A  7?/ 


BY    THE    AUTHOR    OF 

"WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE." 


"  Three  Years  in  a  Man-Trap," 
"Cast  Adrift," 

"Orange  Blossoms,  Fresh  and  Faded,' 
"Gentle  Hand," 

"Ten  Nights  in  a  Bar-Room," 
And  many  others. 


For  Particulars,  Price,  etc.,  see  Catalogue  at  end  of 
this  Book. 


m  i 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 


A  STORY  OF  THE  NEW  CEUSADE. 


BY 

T.    S.    AKTHUK. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
J.    M.    STODDAET    &    CO-. 

CINCINNATI :  QUEEN  CITY  PUBLISHING  CO.     CHICAGO  :  J.  S.  GOODMAN. 
NEW  YORK :  MYERS  A  PATON.     BOSTON  :  GEO.  MACLEAN. 

SAN  FRANCISCO:  A.  L.  BANCROFT  &  co. 


ijL  tiak  >far  1874,  by 
J.  M.  STODDART  &   CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


WESTCOTT  &  THOMSON, 
Storeotypert  and  Mtctrotypert,  PhUada. 


"Go,  feel  what  I  have  felt, 

Go,  bear  what  I  have  borne ; 
Sink  'neath  a  blow  a  father  dealt, 

And  the  cold,  proud  world's  scorn. 
Thus  struggle  on  from  year  to  year, 
Thy  sole  relief  the  scalding  tear. 

"  Go,  weep  as  I  have  wept 

O'er  a  loved  father's  fall ; 
See  every  cherished  promise  swept, 

Youth's  sweetness  turned  to  gall ; 
Hope's  faded  flowers  strewed  all  the  way 
That  led  me  up  to  woman's  day. 

" Go,  kneel  as  I  have  knelt; 

Implore,  beseech,  and  pray, 
Strive  the  besotted  heart  to  melt, 

The  downward  course  to  stay ; 
Be  cast  with  bitter  curse  aside, — 
Thy  prayers  burlesqued,  thy  tears  defied. 

"  Go,  stand  where  I  have  stood, 
And  see  the  strong  man  bow ; 

5 


M88959 


With  gnashing  teeth,  lips  bathed  in  blood, 

And  cold  and  livid  brow ; 
Go  catch  his  wandering  glance,  and  see 
There  mirrored  his  soul's  misery. 


'  Go,  hear  what  I  have  heard, — 

The  sobs  of  sad  despair, 
As  memory's  feeling  fount  hath  stirred, 

And  its  revealings  there     ° 
Have  told  him  what  he  might  have  been, 
Had  he  the  drunkard's  fate  foreseen. 


"Go  to  thy  mother's  side, 

And  her  crushed  spirit  cheer; 
Thine  own  deep  anguish  hide, 

Wipe  from  her  cheek  the  tear ; 
Mark  her  dimmed  eye,  her  furrowed  brow, 
The  gray  that  streaks  her  dark  hair  now, 
The  toil-worn  frame,  the  trembling  limb, 
And  trace  the  ruin  back  to  him 
Whose  plighted  faith,  in  early  youth, 
Promised  eternal  love  and  truth, 
But  who,  forsworn,  hath  yielded  up 
This  promise  to  the  deadly  cup, 
And  led  her  down  from  love  and  light, 
From  all  that  made  her  pathway  bright, 
And  chained  her  there,  'mid  want  and  strife, 
That  lowly  thing, — a  drunkard's  wife ! 
And  stamped  on  childhood's  brow,  so  mild, 
That  withering  blight,— a  drunkard's  child ! 

6 


'  Go,  hear,  and  see,  and  feel,  and  know 

All  that  my  soul  hath  felt  and  known, 
Then  look  within  the  wine-cup's  glow ; 

See  if  its  brightness  can  atone ; 
Think  if  its  flavor  you  would  try 
If  all  proclaimed,  'Tis  drink  and  die. 

'  Tell  me  I  hate  the  bowl,— 

Hate  is  a  feeble  word ; 
I  loathe,  abhor,  my  very  soul 

By  strong  disgust  is  stirred 
Whene'er  I  see,  or  hear,  or  tell 
Of  the  DAEK  BEVERAGE  OF  HELL ! 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

A  STORY  OF  THE  NEW  CRUSADE. 


CHAPTfcB*  D 


fTlHJS  wind  was  up,  wailing  and  sobbing  around 
-*-  the  poor  little  home  of  Luke  Sterling,  and 
dashing  the  sleety  rain  in  angry  gusts  against  its 
half-glazed  windows.  An  hour  before,  the  gloomy 
day  had  died. 

A  thin  face  was  pressed  close  to  one  of  the  panes 
and  a  pair  of  sad  eyes  looked  out,  trying  to  pene 
trate  the  darkness. 

"  Oh  dear !     I  wish  papa  would  come." 

The  face  disappeared  from  the  window,  and  Mrs. 
Sterling,  who  had  been  watching  for  her  husband, 
crossed  the  room  to  where  a  sick  child  lay  upon  an 
old  settee. 

"  Why  don't  papa  come?     I'm  so  hot  and  tired, 


10  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

and  my  head  hurts  so.     Oh  dear!     I  wish  he'd 
come  back/7  moaned  the  child,  fretfully. 

Mrs.  Sterling  sat  down,  and  taking  the  feverish 
hands  of  her  little  girl  in  both  of  hers,  pressed 
them  to  her  lips,  saying, 

"  He'll  be  here  right  soon  now.  The  doctor  may 
have  been  out,  you  know." 

•  {  iTjie  child  Js&itt  >ier  eyes  heavily,  and  Mrs.  Ster 
ling  sat  holding  her  hot  hands  and  listening  for  the 
^cundxpf  her  Iws^andjS  feet  for  over  ten  minutes. 
Beyond  this  she  could  not  bear  the  suspense  of  pas 
sive  waiting.  Alice,  who  had  been  sick  all  day, 
had  become  much  worse  since  night  fell.  It  was 
almost  an  hour  since  her  husband  went  for  Doctor 
Sandford,  whose  house  was  just  across  the  town, 
not  over  ten  minutes'  walk  from  where  they  lived. 
What  was  keeping  him  so  long?  For  the  past 
twenty  or  thirty  minutes  the  heart  of  Mrs.  Sterling 
had  been  growing  heavier  and  heavier,  and  fears 
she  had  too  good  cause  to  entertain  were  crowding 
upon  her. 

The  deeply-flushed  face  and  heavy  breathing  of 
the  child,  the  restless  tossings  and  meanings,  the 
cries  of  pain,  so  filled  her  with  anxiety  that  she  at 
last  determined  to  go  for  the  doctor  herself. 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  11 

"  Why,  Polly  Sterling !"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Payne, 
her  next-door  neighbor,  as  the  white,  alarmed  face 
of  Mrs.  Sterling  was  suddenly  revealed  in  her  open 
door.  "What's  the  matter?  Has  anything  hap 
pened?" 

"  Won't  you  come  in  and  stay  with  Alice  while 
I  go  for  the  doctor  ?" 

"  Why,  of  course  I  will,"  answered  the  neighbor, 
promptly.  "But  where's  Luke?" 

"  I  don't  know."  Mrs.  Sterling  shook  her  head 
mournfully. 

"Is  Alice  worse?" 

"  She's  very  sick,  and  Pm  afraid  to  put  off  see 
ing  the  doctor  any  longer." 

"  But  it's  a  dreadful  night  for  you  to  go  out  in. 
Didn't  George  come  home  this  evening  ?  I  thought 
he  always  came  on  Tuesdays  and  Saturdays  ?" 

"  He  used  to  be  very  regular  in  coming  home, 
but  they're  busy  at  the  shop  now,  and  he  .often 
has  to  work  at  night.  Some  weeks  I  only  see  him 
on  Sundays." 

"Well,  that's  curious,"  remarked  Mrs.  Payne. 
"Andy  White  works  over  at  Salter's,  and  he's 
home  oftener  than  that,  I  know." 

"Are  you  sure?"  asked  Mrs.  Sterling,  turning 


12  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

suddenly  upon  her  neighbor.  There  was  a  deeper 
trouble  in  her  face. 

"Yes,  Fm  very  sure;  and  if  George  doesn't 
come  home  more  than  once  a  week,  you'd  better  see 
to  it,  and  know  the  reason  why.  There  are  a  great 
many  temptations  in  a  place  like  this,  and  growing- 
up  boys  should  be  looked  after  pretty  closely.  I 
don't  think  much  of  Baiter's  as  a  school  for  lads ; 
there  are  lots  of  the  hardest  kind  of  men  there. 
But  I've  no  business  to  worry  you  about  this  now. 
I'll  go  right  in  and  stay  with  Alice  until  you  get 
back." 

Out  into  the  cold  and  stormy  night,  thinly  clad, 
went  Mrs.  Sterling,  and  made  her  way  with  rapid 
steps  across  the  town.  She  was  wet  with  the 
driving  rain  and  chilled  to  the  heart  when  she 
reached  the  house  of  Dr.  Sandford. 

"Has  my  husband  been  here?"  she  asked,  on 
seeing  the  doctor. 

"Yes;  he  was  here  an  hour  ago.  Hasn't  he 
taken  home  the  medicine  ?" 

Doctor  Sandford  looked  astonished,  and  Mrs. 
Sterling  saw  a  flash  of  anger  in  his  eyes.  The 
poor  woman  could  only  shake  her  head  in  reply. 

"Too  bad,   too   bad!"   exclaimed    the    doctor, 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  13 

breaking  across  the  room  in  two  or  three  long 
strides  and  then  coming  back  to  Mrs.  Sterling. 
"Is  there  nothing  left  in  the  man? — no  pity,  no 
natural  feeling,  no  humanity !  I  gave  him  a  pre 
scription  to  be  taken  immediately,  and  the  money 
to  pay  for  it,  as  he  had  none ;  and  instead  of  getting 
the  medicine  for  his  sick  child,  he  has  gone  and 
spent  it  for  rum  !" 

Doctor  Sandford  was  a  kind-hearted  man,  but  of 
a  nervous  temperament  and  easily  excited.  He 
saw,  by  the  shocked,  ashen  face  of  the  poor  wife, 
that  he  had  gone  beyond  true  feeling  and  a  wise 
discretion. 

"I  should  have  known  better,"  he  added,  in  a 
softer  voice.  "  But  it  can't  be  helped  now.  How 
is  the  child?" 

"Very  sick,  doctor.  Oh,  I  wish  you'd  come 
over  and  see  her.  She  has  a  very  high  fever,  and 
moans  and  throws  herself  about,  and  is  getting 
flighty." . 

"  Too  bad  !"  exclaimed  the  doctor  again.  "  She 
should  have  had  medicine  an  hour  ago,  and  would, 
but  for—" 

He  checked  himself,  holding  back  his  indigna 
tion  for  the  poor  wife's  sake. 


14  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

The  rush  and  roar  of  the  storm,  as  the  wind 
broke  through  the  bare  branches  of  the  great  trees 
that  stood  in  front  of  the  doctor's  pleasant  home, 
and  its  sleety  dash  against  the  windows  of  his 
office,  was  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  writing 
another  prescription  instead  of  making  a  visit — an 
argument  that  found  support  in  the  fact  that  he 
had  already  a  large  bill  against  Mr:  Sterling  for 
medical  service,  the  settlement  of  which  was  so 
remote  as  to  be  left  out  of  all  his  calculations. 

But  Doctor  Sandford  had  known  Mrs.  Sterling 
in  other  and  better  days,  and  still  bore  for  her  a 
strong  friendly  regard.  Well  did  he  remember  the 
fair  promise  of  her  wedding-day,  when  she  gave 
herself  to  Luke  Sterling,  the  handsome,  thrifty 
young  storekeeper,  with  whom  half  the  girls  in 
town  were  said  to  be  in  love.  And  so  his  kind 
heart,  his  pity  and  his  old  friendly  feeling  were 
stronger  in  the  argument  than  a  love  of  personal 
ease  or  mere  self-interest. 

"  Run  back  home  as  quickly  as  your  feet  will 
carry  you,"  he  said ;  "  I'll  be  there  in  ten  minutes." 

And  Doctor  Sandford  was  as  good  as  his  word. 
He  knew  pretty  well -what  the  case  needed,  and 
brought  medicines  along  with  him.  The  poor 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  15 

mother  watched  his  face  as  he  sat  feeling  the 
child's  pulse,  and  saw  little  to  assure  her  anxious 
heart  in  its  grave  expression. 

"  I  will  be  over  early  in  the  morning,"  said  the 
doctor  as  he  went  away.  A  fierce  blast  swept  in 
through  the  door  as  he  was  shutting  it  behind  him, 
extinguishing  the  single  light  that  burned  in  the 
room,  leaving  Mrs.  Sterling  in  total  darkness.  Al 
most  as  deep  as  this  darkness  was  the  night  that 
had  fallen  upon  her  soul.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
sick  child  who  needed  her,  the  wretched  woman,  in 
whose  heart  every  hope  lay  dead  or  dying,  would 
have  fallen  to  the  floor  in  a  helpless  abandonment 
of  herself  to  the  despairing  influences  of  the  hour. 
But  the  quick  outcry  of  Alice  roused  her  to  duty ; 
and  relighting  the  lamp,  she  prepared  and  gave 
the  medicine  which  Doctor  Sandford  had  left.  The 
effect  of  this  medicine  was  soon  apparent  in  a  dimin 
ished  restlessness,  and  in  half  an  hour  Alice  was 
asleep.  Still,  her  breathing  was  heavy,  her  face 
flushed  and  her  skin  hot. 

Ease  of  mind  in  one  direction  only  gave  oppor 
tunity  for  anxiety  in  another.  Again  and  again  she 
went  to  the  window,  and  stood  with  her  face  pressed 
close  to  the  chilly  panes,  trying  to  see  into  the  outer 


16  WOMAN  TO   THE  EESCUE. 

darkness  and  listening  with  repressed  breathing  for 
the  sound  of  coming  feet.  But  only  the  dropping 
and  splashing  of  the  rain  and  the  moaning,  rush 
ing  and  roaring  of  the  storm-laden  wind  came  to 
her  ears. 

It  was  an  hour  since  the  doctor  went  away,  and 
still  her  husband  had  not  returned.  From  the  settee 
on  which  Alice  lay  sleeping,  to  the  window,  back 
and  forth  she  passed  with  a  restlessness  that  grew 
stronger  every  moment.  Sometimes  she  would  strike 
her  hands  suddenly  together  and  throw  up  her  eyes 
in  a  wild,  beseeching  appeal  to  Heaven ;  sometimes 
she  would  clasp  her  hands  across  her  forehead  and 
stand  still  with  staring  orbs,  like  one  bereft  of 
reason ;  and  once  she  dropped  helplessly  upon  her 
knees  by  the  side  of  her  sick  child,  and  burying 
her  face,  remained  motionless  for  a  long  time. 
When  she  arose,  she  was  calmer  and  there  was  a 
softer  expression  about  her  troubled  mouth.  Just 
then  the  door  was  pushed  quietly  open,  and  Mrs. 
Payne  came  in  to  see  if  the  sick  child*  was  improv 
ing.  She  put  her  arm  about  the  slender  form  of 
Mrs.  Sterling  as  they  stood  silently  looking  upon  the 
sleeping  child,  and  so  gave  her  that  speechless  assur 
ance  of  sympathy  which  goes  deeper  than  words. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  17 

Mrs.  Payne  knew  how  to  sympathize  with  her 
nearly  heart-broken  neighbor,  for  the  green  things 
in  her  life  had  not  all  been  spared  from  the  scorch 
ing  ruin  that  was  desolating  so  many  of  the  fair 
homes  of  Delhi.  She  had  been  a  widow  for  over 
three  years,  but  no  sweet  memories  gathered  about 
the  grave  of  her  husband.  She  had  never  decked 
it  with  a  flower  nor  made  to  the  unmarked  spot  a 
single  visit  of  love.  The  bare  thought  of  it  made 
her  shiver. 

"  You  will  stay  with  Alice  a  little  while  ?"  said 
Mrs.  Sterling,  moving  back  from  the  settee. 

"  Oh,  but  you're  not  going  to-night  ?"  returned 
Mrs.  Payne,  who  understood  what  she  meant. 
"  Just  listen  to  the  wind ;  and  it's  raining  in  tor 
rents." 

"  I  must  go ;  there  is  no  help  for  it.  The  more 
dreadful  the  storm,  the  greater  the  necessity,"  re 
plied  Mrs.  Sterling.  And  she  took  down  from  the 
wall  a  hood  and  cloak,  both  still  wet  from  the 
rain  which  had  drenched  her  a  little  while  before, 
and  put  them  on  hurriedly.  "I  won't  be  away 
long." 

And  before  Mrs.  Payne  could  make  any  further 
remonstrance,  she  had  passed  out  of  the  door. 


CHAPTER   II. 

T^ELHI  is  a  beautiful  town  in  the  centre  of  a 
•^"v  rich  agricultural  region,  and  has  a  population 
of  nearly  five  thousand.  At  the  time  of  which  we 
write  it  had  over  thirty  bars  and  drinking  saloons, 
or  one  for  every  forty  of  the  male  population  above 
the  age  of  sixteen.  Some  of  these  saloons  were 
fitted  up  in  a  costly  and  attractive  style,  and  at 
night  their  richly-colored  lamps  could  be  seen  on 
every  street  and  in  all  directions,  turn  which  way 
you  would,  inviting  young  and  old  to  enter.  Some 
of  the  keepers  of  these  saloons  had  grown  rich,  and 
their  residences  were  among  the  handsomest  in  tho 
place ;  but  just  in  the  degree  that  they  grew  richer 
some  in  Delhi  had  grown  poorer,  for  they  added 
nothing  to  the  common  stock  of  wealth,  nor  to  the 
thrift  that  produces  or  the  prudence  that  saves. 
They  were  the  parasites  and  vermin  that  feed  on 
and  suck  out  the  rich  juices  of  society,  and  weaken, 
impoverish  and  destroy. 

There  was  scarcely  a  family  in  town,  from  the 
clergyman's  down  to  the  poor  mechanic's,  that  was 

18 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  19 

free  from  the  hurt  of  these  drinking  saloons.  They 
flourished  in  spite  of  temperance  societies,  grand 
jury  presentments,  restrictive  State  laws,  the  pulpit 
and  the  courts,  and  in  spite  of  the  broken  hearts 
of  wives  and  mothers  who  cried  for  help  in  vain. 
The  whole  community  was  in  bondage  to  the  thirty 
saloon-keepers,  and  paid  them  tribute  as  demanded 
— not  in  money  alone,  but  in  precious  lives. 

It  seems  incredible.  A  town  of  five  thousand 
souls  in  a  Christian  nation,  numbering  seven 
churches  and  hundreds  of  Christian  men  and  wo 
men — a  town  of  large  wealth  and  extensive  in 
dustries,  of  education,  refinement  and  intelligence — 
it  seems  incredible,  we  say,  that  such  a  community 
should  be  held  utterly  bound  by  thirty  men ;  and 
such  men !  We  hear,  in  times  past,  of  bands  of 
outlaws  coming  down  upon  defenceless  villages  and 
plundering  the  weak  inhabitants,  and  of  robber 
knights  holding  by  armed  bands  large  districts  of 
country  in  their  iron  grasp,  and  draining  out  the 
substance  and  lives  of  the  people  at  will.  But  his 
tory  gives  no  instance  of  such  a  craven  and  coward 
submission  as  that  to  which  Delhi  had  given  her 
self  up  for  years. 

Of  the  thirty  men  who  held  this  beautiful  town 


20  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

prostrate  beneath  their  feet,  at  least  one-half  had, 
at  some  period  in  their  lives,  been  under  arrest  for 
offences  against  law  and  order ;  six  had  been  con 
victed  of  crimes  and  suffered  imprisonment — one 
of  them  for  a  term  of  seven  years.  Only  three 
were  men  of  education,  and  they  had  lived  bad 
lives.  Several  were  professed  gamblers,  and  carried 
on  their  evil  trade  night  and  day,  thus  inflicting  a 
double  wrong  upon  the  community.  The  majority 
were  foreigners,  but  all  these  were  naturalized  citi 
zens  and  active  politicians,  doing  good  service  to 
their  party  on  every  election-day.  They  were  men 
who  never  missed  a  vote.  Coarse,  common  and  of 
low  instincts  were  most  of  these  thirty  rulers  of  Del 
hi,  and  neither  they  nor  their  families  could  gain 
admission  into  any  of  the  refined  and  cultured  circles 
of  the  place.  Good  and  true  men  denounced  their 
calling  as  evil  and  lifted  warning  voices  against 
them.  Every  day  the  crushing  tread  of  their  iron 
heels  was  felt  by  the  people ;  every  day  the  drain 
of  substance  went  on ;  every  day  saw  a  rain  of 
tears  in  some  stricken  and  desolate  home;  every 
day  their  evil  work  set  itself  up  before  the  eyes  of 
all.  There  was  wreck  and  ruin  everywhere,  and 
no  help ! 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  21 

Thus  it  was  in  Delhi  at  the  time  our  story  opens. 
Good  Templars  and  Sons  of  Temperance  held  regu 
lar  meetings  and  tried  to  stem  the  tide  of  ruin  that 
was  bearing  so  many  to  destruction,  but  they  en 
tered  upon  no  aggressive  work.  A  malign  spell 
was  upon  the  community.  It  would  not  arouse 
itself.  Men  who  had  spent  their  whole  lives  in 
conquering  difficulties,  who  had  organized  armies 
and  led  them  through  fierce  campaigns  to  victory, 
held  back  from  leadership  now,  and  grew  coward 
in  the  presence  of  thirty  men  with  King  Whisky 
at  their  back. 

Wives  saw  their  husbands  drifting  toward  the 
great  maelstrom  of  intemperance  that  year  by  year 
engulfed  hundreds  in  Delhi;  weeping  mothers 
stood  with  hands  stretched  out  toward  their  receding 
sons ;  sisters  saw  their  brothers  go  down  amid  the 
seething  waters,  and  no  one  sprang  to  the  rescue. 
Their  tears  and  anguish,  their  pleadings,  their  wild 
cries  for  help,  found  no  response.  Men — hus 
bands,  fathers,  brothers — organized  society,  deter 
mined  its  character,  made  and  executed  its  laws, 
set  up  whom  they  would  and  put  down  whom  they 
would,  and  men  were  afraid  of  King  Alcohol  and 
his  band  of  mean  subalterns,  one  of  whom  could 


22  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

chase  a  thousand  and  two  put  ten  thousand  ordi^ 
nary  citizens  to  flight. 

We  write  in  shame,  but  truth  is  truth.  Ah !  if 
it  were  only  in  Delhi  that  good  and  brave  and  just 
men  lost  their  clear  judgment  and  courageous  hearts 
and  higher  and  nobler  sense  of  duty  when  they 
stood  in  the  presence  of  this  robber  king  and  his 
wretched  crew,  we  might  rejoice  even  in  our  sorrow 
for  an  oppressed  and  pirllaged  neighbor.  But  there 
is  scarcely  a  city,  a  town  or  a  neighborhood  in  all 
our  magnificent  land  where  he  has  not  established 
his  cruel  despotism,  and  where  he  does  not  subsidize, 
influence  and  control  the  laws. 

Is  it  any  marvel  that  helpless,  heart-breaking 
women,  who  suffer  most  deeply  from  the  curse  of  a 
whisky  despotism,  should  have  asked  for  and  de 
manded  the  ballot  in  order  that,  at  a  single  grand 
uprising,  they  might  do  what  their  husbands,  fathers 
and  brothers  have  failed  to  do — sweep  this  despotism 
from  the  land? 

At  the  corner  of  two  of  the  best  streets  in  Delhi, 
right  in  the  centre  of  business,  stood  the  "  Hanlan 
House."  It  was  kept  by  one  Jimmy  Hanlan,  as 
he  was  familiarly  called,  and  was  fitted  up  witk 
many  attractions.  It  was  not  a  house  for  the  enter- 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  23 

tainment  of  travelers,  having  a  certain  number  of, 
beds  and  other  appliances  necessary  in  a  regular 
hotel,  as  required  by  law,  but  only  an  eating  and 
drinking  saloon.  The  law  did  not  contemplate,  in 
its  license  to  sell  intoxicating  drinks,  the  establish 
ment  of  a  "  house  "  like  this.  It  existed  in  viola 
tion  of  the  clear  intent  and  plain  expression  of  the 
law.  All  the  more  intelligent  and  influential  citi 
zens  of  Delhi  knew  that  this  was  so ;  and  yet  for 
over  ten  years  Jimmy  Hanlan  had  flaunted  his  signs 
by  day  and  flashed  out  his  red  and  blue  lamps  at 
night  on  the  corner  of  Elm  and  Main  streets,  and 
no.  one  had  said  him  nay. 

When  the  "  Hanlan  House "  was  opened,  Luke 
Sterling  was  the  owner  of  a  store  full  of  goods  at 
No.  70  Main  street,  and  had  just  built  himself  a 
beautiful  residence  in  the  prettiest  part  of  the  town 
at  a  cost  of  nearly  ten  thousand  dollars.  Jimmy 
Hanlan,  a  smart  but  rather  coarse  man,  had  been 
a  porter  in  his  store;  but  not  being  over-fond 
of  work,  he  had  saved  up  a  few  hundred  dollars, 
and  with  that  sum  and  the  credit  he  was  able  to  get 
from  a  wholesale  liquor  dealer  in  town,  who  always 
stood  ready  to  help  such  enterprising  young  men  as 
Jimmy  whenever  they  wished  .to  set  up  for  them- 


24  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

selves  in  this  particular  line  of  business,  started  a 
saloon.  Mr.  Sterling  and  two  of  his  neighbors, 
who  felt  some  interest  in  the  enterprising  young 
fellow,  signed  his  application  for  a  license,  though 
they  very  well  knew  that  in  his  case  the  license 
law,  in  its  true  intent,  was  to  be  evaded.  But  this 
law,  in  consequence  of  just  such  weak  and  wicked 
connivance,  had  become  a  dead  letter  throughout 
the  State. 

Jimmy's  saloon  was  the  most  attractive  place  of 
the  kind  in  Delhi,  and  he  found  a  good  run  of  the 
best  class  of  custom  from  the  beginning.  Luke 
Sterling,  who  had  not  been  in  the  habit  of  visiting 
a  tavern  once  in  a  month,  dropped  into  the  "  Hanlan 
House  "  every  day  to  see  how  Jimmy  was  getting 
along,  and  of  course  always  called  for  something  to 
drink  by  way  of  encouraging  the  new  enterprise. 
It  was  not  a  great  while  before  inclination  instead 
of  interest  in  Hanlan  drew  his  steps  thitherward. 
At  a  certain  hour  on  the  morning  of  each  day  he 
found  his  thoughts  turning  to  the  new  saloon  and 
a  picture  of  its  attractive  interior  coming  up  before 
his  mental  vision.  The  pleasant  taste  of  one  of 
Jimmy's  rare  concoctions  would  be  upon  his  tongue, 
and  he  would  feel  in  imagination  the  warmth  of  it* 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  25 

fine  exhilaration  along  every  nerve  and  fibre  of  his 
body.  Then  he  would  come  from  behind  his 
counter  or  leave  his  desk  and  go  into  the  "  Hanlan 
House  "  to  see  how  things  were  looking  there.  He 
had  loaned  the  man  two  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars,  with  which  to  put  a  new  and  more  attractive 
front  to  his  saloon  and  to  get  a  fancy  display  lamp 
for  the  pavement,  and  he  naturally  enough  wanted 
to  keep  the  run  of  Jimmy's  business  to  see  if  all 
was  coming  out  right. 

After  making  this  loan,  and  so  getting  a  kind  of 
personal  interest  in  the  success  of  the  saloon,  Ster 
ling  began  to  make  more  frequent  visits.  Afternoon 
and  evening  calls  were  made  almost  every  day,  and 
he  rarely  went  in  without  taking  a  drink,  and  some 
times  as  many  as  two  or  three.  He  always  met 
business  friends  and  old  acquaintances  at  the 
"Hanlan  House,"  and  especially  in  the  evening, 
when  some  of  "  the  best  men  in  the  town "  might 
be  found  at  the  saloon  talking  over  the  news  of 
the  day,  politics  more  especially,  and  inviting  each 
other  to  try  the  flavor  of  some  of  Jimmy's  fancy 
Irinks. 

The  American  custom  of  asking  a  friend  to  drink 
with  you  had  its  strict  observance  in  Delhi.  It  was 


26  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

scarcely  possible  for  a  man  who  knew  almost  every 
one  in  town,  as  did  Luke  Sterling,  to  visit  the  prin 
cipal  saloon  without  giving  or  receiving  two  or 
three  invitations  to  take  a  drink.  It  would  have 
been  felt  as  unsocial  not  to  have  offered  the  one, 
and  been  regarded  as  a  slight  not  to  have  accepted 
the  other.  It  is  this  custom  that  hastens  the  ruin 
of  so  many  thousands,  who,  but  for  its  existence, 
would  take  only  a  single  glass  on  visiting  a  tavern, 
instead  of  two,  three,  and  often  half  a  dozen, 
ending,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  in  a  drunken  de 
bauch. 

Sterling  had  been  married  just  seven  years  when 
the  "  Hanlan  House  "  was  opened,  and  during  that 
time  the  life  of  Mrs.  Sterling  had  flowed  along  like 
a  quiet  stream  through  green  meadows  and  pleasant 
landscapes.  At  her  marriage  she  had  brought  her 
husband  a  property  of  over  twenty  thousand  dol 
lars,  which  was  soon  afterward  invested  with  her 
full  consent  in  his  business,  then  well  established 
and  prosperous.  A  tenderer,  truer  wife  no  man 
ever  possessed.  She  had  married  Luke  Sterling 
because  she  loved  him,  and  love  had  grown  deeper 
and  stronger  with  every  year  of  their  wedded  life. 
Her  person,  her  fortune  and  her  happiness  she  had 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  27 

given  into  his  keeping  with  a  confidence  that  knew 
not  even  the  shadow  of  a  doubt. 

Ah !  when  the  shadow  fell  at  last,  clear  and 
strong  as  the  shadow  of  a  t*ee  in  the  broad  sun 
light,  what  agony  filled  her  heart !  The  opening 
of  Jimmy  Hanlan's  saloon  had  not  troubled  her. 
There  were  over  a  dozen  bars  and  saloons  in  Delhi 
before  this  one  began  its  baleful  work,  but  the 
possibility  of  suffering  from  their  evil  influence 
was  far  away  from  her  thoughts.  If  there  was  a 
man  in  all  the  neighborhood  freer  from  danger  on 
this  account  than  any  one  else,  that  man  was  her 
husband.  Such  was  her  confidence.  He  was  not 
a  temperance  man,  so  called — not  an  advocate  for 
total  abstinence  or  restrictive  laws,  but  for  manly 
freedom.  He  could  take  a  glass  of  wine  or  beer, 
or  even  brandy,  when  occasion  offered,  or  let  it 
alone,  just  as  he  pleased.  He  stood  above  the  weak 
nesses  of  appetite.  Happy  for  him  and  for  her  had 
this  indeed  been  so.  But,  alas !  it  was  not.  Like 
tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands  in  our  land,  he 
could  not  habitually  indulge  in  the  use  of  any  drink 
containing  alcohol  without  a  steady  growth  of  ap 
petite  and  a  steady  breaking  down  of  the  power  to 
restrain  the  demands  of  that  appetite.  The  temp- 


28  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

tation  to  drink  habitually  and  with  a  larger  freedom 
came  with  the  establishment  of  the  new  saloon. 
Going  first  to  encourage  Hanlan  and  to  see  how  he 
got  along  from  day  to  day,  he  soon  found  that  the 
bar  had  attractions  strong  enough  to  take  him  there 
on  their  own  account.  There  was  something  pleas 
ant  to  him  in  the  sphere  of  the  place,  it  was  so 
bright  and  cheerful,  and  the  friends  he  met  there 
were  so  jolly  and  cordial.  And  then  Jimmy  Han 
lan  had  a  way  of  mixing  a  glass  of  liquor  that 
made  it  seem  doubly  palatable. 

So  strong  was  Mrs.  Sterling's  faith  in  her  hus 
band,  so  confident  was  she  in  her  security,  that 
the  odor  of  liquor  which  now  came  frequently  on 
his  breath  did  not  awaken  the  smallest  concern. 
The  fear  of  Luke's  becoming  intemperate  was  far 
irom  her.  There  were  some  new  phases  in  his 
temper — a  growing  irritability  and  a  nervous  rest 
lessness,  especially  in  the  morning — that  troubled 
her  at  times.  He  was  not  the  Luke  of  old.  But 
she  knew  that  he  had  many  and  increasing  business 
cares,  and  to  this  she  attributed  the  change. 

One  afternoon — the  "  Hanlan  House "  had  now 
been  open  for  a  year — Mrs.  Sterling  called  in  to  see 
a  neighbor,  the  wife  of  a  promising  young  lawyer 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  29 

named  Gordon.  She  and  Mrs.  Gordon  had  been 
schoolgirls  together,  and  were  strongly  attached. 
Since  their  marriage  they  had  lived  near  each  other, 
and  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  every  day. 

Mrs.  Sterling  was  much  pained  to  discover  her 
friend  in  tears  and  greatly  distressed  about  some 
thing. 

"  My  dear,  dear  Amy !"  she  exclaimed,  throw 
ing  her  arms  about  her  neck  in  the  warmth  of  her 
feelings.  "What  is  the  matter?  No  one  dead,  I 
hope?' 

Mrs.  Gordon  hid  her  face,  sobbing,  on  the  bosom 
of  her  friend. 

"What  is  it,  dear?  Tell  me,"  urged  Mrs. 
Sterling  as  the  two  women  sat  down.  "  What  has 
happened  ?" 

"Nothing  has  happened.  Fm  only  weak  and 
nervous  to-day.  You  know  Fve  not  been  feeling 
well  for  some  time,"  replied  Mrs.  Gordon,  trying 
to  rally  herself. 

"  I  know  that  something  has  been  troubling  you," 
said  Mrs.  Sterling.  "  Now,  what  is  it,  Amy  dear  ? 
Tell  me  all  about  it.  Maybe  I  can  help  you." 

There  was  an  expression  in  Mrs.  Gordon's  face 
as  she  lifted  her  head  and  looked  for  a  few  moments 


30  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

steadily  at  her  friend  that  sent  a  strange  feeling  to 
Mrs.  Sterling's  heart.  It  had  in  it  both  pain  and 
surprise.  She  shook  her  head  in  a  sorrowful  kind 
of  way  as  she  answered : 

"  No,  Polly ;  you  can't  help  me." 

"  I  can  help  you  with  love  and  sympathy,  if  in 
no  other  way." 

The  dreary  look  did  not  go  out  of  her  friend's 
eyes,  nor  the  sad  expression  fade  away  from  her 
lips.  Then  M^s.  Sterling,  urging  her  still  further, 
said : 

"  Nothing  has  gone  wrong  with  Mr.  Gordon,  I 
hope?" 

She  saw  a  shade  of  bitterness  sweep  across  her 
friend's  face. 

"Wrong  in  his  "affairs,  I  mean?"  she  added, 
quickly,  fearing  that  she  might  have  touched  a 
deeper  trouble  than  she  had  dreamed  of  or  had 
any  right  to  meddle  with. 

"  Oh,  Polly,  if  I  dared  to  tell  you !"  cried  out 
Mrs.  Gordon,  clutching  her  friend's  arms  with  a 
sudden  grip,  as  of  one  struggling  with  a  spasm. 
A  deadly  pallor  came  over  her  face,  and  every 
muscle  quivered  with  pain.  "  I  must  talk  to  some 
body,  or  my  heart  will  break." 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  31 

"My  dear,  dear  friend,  how  you  distress  me! 
What  does  all  this  mean  ?" 

"It  means,"  answered  Mrs.  Gordon,  growing 
calm  in  a  few  moments,  "that  the  evil  thing  I 
have  dreaded  all  my  life  is  at  my  door  to-day." 

"What  evil  thing?" 

"  Ah,  if  I  could  bring  myself  to  tell  you !  But 
it  is  so  dreadful — so  sorrowful !" 

Mrs.  Gordon  leaned  her  face  down  again  upon 
the  bosom  of  her  friend  and  wept  as  before,  but 
she  soon  composed  herself.  And  now,  the  strength 
of  her  passion  having  subsided,  she  could  speak  in 
a  steady  voice : 

"  I've  been  wanting  to  talk  with  you  for  a  good 
while  about  a  matter  that  distresses  me  beyond 
measure.  The  truth  is,  Polly,  our  husbands  are  in 
great  danger." 

"Our  husbands!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Sterling,  all 
the  color  going  out  of  her  face.  "  What  danger  ?" 

"There  is  a  place  at  the  corner  of  Elm  and 
Main  streets,"  replied  Mrs.  Gordon,  "that  will  ruin 
more  men  in  a  year,  twice  told,  than  will  be  saved 
by  all  the  churches  in  town." 

"You  mean  Jimmy  Hanlan's  saloon?" 

"Yes.     Before  it  was  opened  Frank  rarely,  if 


32  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

ever,  drank  anything  at  a  public-house.  If  he 
wanted  a  glass  of  wine,  or  anything  else,  he  took  it 
at  home ;  and  this  not  often.  He  didn't  seem  to 
care  for  liquor  as  much  as  some  other  men.  But 
since  that  Hanlan  set  up  a  saloon,  he  has  been  grad 
ually  falling  away  from  his  good  habits,  until — " 

The  poor  wife's  voice  choked,  and  tears  fell 
silently  over  her  cheeks.  It  was  then  that  the  dark 
shadow  fell  suddenly  across  the  sunny  life  of  Mrs. 
Sterling.  The  questions,  "  Is  Luke,  too,  in  dan 
ger?  Is  Luke  drifting  out  also  upon  the  dark 
river  that  sweeps,  year  by  year,  its  tens  of  thou 
sands  to  dishonored  graves?"  flashed  through  her 
mind  and  sent  the  blood  in  chilling  currents  back 
upon  her  heart. 

The  two  women,  with  pale  faces  and  silent  lips, 
sat  looking  at  each  other,  oppressed  with  a  sense  of 
weakness.  They  were  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
calamity  from  which  there  seemed  no  way  of 
escape. 

The  veil  of  confidence  had  dropped  from  the 
eyes  of  Mrs.  Sterling  which  had  until  now  kept 
her  from  noticing  the  drift  in  her  husband's  course 
that  was  taking  him  out  of  safe  waters  and  into  a 
current  that  set  toward  a  dangerous  coast. 


CHAPTER   III. 

the  two  friends  sat,  silent  and  borne 
down  by  a  sense  of  weakness,  when  a  neighbor 
came  in.  Mrs.  Gordon  rose  quickly  and  gave  her 
hand  to  the  visitor.  She  was  a  woman  past  fifty 
years  of  age,  with  a  calm,  patient  face,  whereon  you 
read  the  story  of  a  life  in  which  trial,  suffering  and 
sorrow  had  found  rest  and  comfort  in  a  complete 
submission  to  the  divine  will.  Her  name  was 
Mrs.  Khoda  Green.  In  religious  faith  she  was  a 
Methodist,  one  of  the  old-time  sisters  who  believed 
in  prayer,  and  -  who  every  day  entered  into  her 
closet  and  shut  the  door  and  lifted  her*  heart  to 
Him  whose  ears  are  always  open  to  those  who  cajl 
upon  his  name. 

It  was  the  habit  of  Sister  Green  to  submit  all 
tilings  to  God.  In  every  trial  or  difficulty,  in 
every  doubt  or  fear,  in  every  trouble  or  misfortune, 
she  went  to  her  heavenly  Father,  and  with  the 
simple  trust  of  a  child  laid  her  case  before  him 
and  asked  for  the  grace  she  needed,  whether  it 

3  33 


34  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

were  the  grace  of  courage  to  enter  upon  a  conflict 
or  the  grace  of  submission  to  bear  what  was  inev 
itable. 

Every  one  in  Delhi  knew  Sister  Rhoda  Green. 
Those  who  came  nearest  to  her  loved  her  most, 
and  by  all  she  was  held  in  much  respect.  Literally 
did  she  try  to  do  her  Saviour's  work  in  visiting  the 
sick,  clothing  the  naked  and  feeding  the  hungry, 
but  never  regarded  her  duty  as  done  until  she  had 
awakened  in  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  she  minis 
tered  a  deep  sense  of  spiritual  poverty  and  naked 
ness,  and  of  their  lost  condition  through  sin. 

As  Sister  Green  held  the  hand  of  Mrs.  Gordon 
and  looked  into  her  face  she  saw  the  trouble  that 
overshadowed  it.  And  as  she  turned  and  spoke  in 
her  kind,  sweet  way  to  Mrs.  Sterling  she  saw  that 
her  countenance,  was  troubled  also.  The  smile 
which  had  played  about  her  lips  died  off,  and  she 
said,  in  her  gentle  but  earnest  way, 

"Nothing  wrong,  I  hope?  How  is  little 
Bessie?" 

"Very  well,"  replied  Mrs.  Gordon,  trying  to 
rally  herself  and  put  on  a  cheerful  air. 

"All  well  at  home?"  turning  to  Mrs.  Sterling. 

"  Yes,  thank  you." 


•• 
WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  35 

A  few  moments  of  silence,  then  Mrs.  Gordon, 
after  giving  her  visitor  a  chair,  said, 

"  We  were  talking  about  Jimmy  Hanlan's  saloon. 
It's  doing  a  great  deal  of  harm,  Mrs.  Green — more 
than  all  the  rest  put  together,  Fm  afraid.  So  many 
of  our  best  men  go  there.  I  heard  last  week  that 
John  Wharton  spends  half  his  time  there.  It's 
dreadful.  And  he  used  to  be  such  a  fine  man. 
Poor  Katy !  my  heart  aches  for  her." 

Mrs.  Gordon's  voice  broke  a  little,  and  only  by 
a  strong  effort  was  she  able  to  keep  back  the  sob 
that  trembled  in  her  throat. 

The  face  of  Mrs.  Green  became  very  serious  and 
thoughtful. 

"Yes,"  she  replied,  "it  was  a  dark  day  for  us 
when  Hanlan  opened  his  saloon.  I  saw  how  it 
would  be  when  he  put  in  that  great  window  and 
made  everything  look  so  gay  and  attractive,  and, 
as  I  heard  some  one  remark  at  the  time,  so  respect 
able.  Most  of  the  saloons  were  low  places,  and  our 
best  people  didn't  like  to  be  seen  in  them.  Our 
gentlemen  kept  themselves  away.  But  now  you 
rarely  pass  the  corner  of  Main  and  Elm  streets 
without  seeing  a  lawyer  or  a  merchant  going  in  or 
coming  out.  And,  what  is  worst  of  all,  too  many 


36  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

of  our  most  promising  young  men  are  following 
their  bad  example." 

The  shadow  of  a  man  passing  the  window  fell 
across  the  floor.  In  the  next  moment  some  one 
came  in  noisily.  The  blood  mounted  to  Mrs. 
Gordon's  temples  as  she  started  to  her  feet  and 
went  out  into  the  hall.  A  few  hurried  remon 
strances  came  in  a  repressed  voice  to  the  visitors' 
ears,  and  then  the  door  of  Mr.  Gordon's  office, 
which  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  hall,  was  heard 
to  open  and  shut.  Mrs.  Gordon's  face  was  still 
flushed  when  she  came  back  into  the  parlor,  and 
she  had  an  air  of  painful  embarrassment. 

"And  to  what  is  it  all  leading?"  said  Sister 
Green  as  Mrs.  Gordon  returned,  taking  up  the 
thread  of  her  discourse.  "  To  sorrow  and  shame, 
to  the  loss  of  health  and  property,  and,  saddest  of 
all,  to  the  loss  of  human  souls.  Our  Sabbaths  are 
openly  desecrated  by  such  men  as  Hanlan,  and  the 
law  made  to  restrict  their  dreadful  traffic — made,  I 
fear,  by  men  bribed  to  leave  it  defective — set  wholly 
at  defiance.  Nothing  so  discourages  my  heart  as 
this.  It  is  not  enough  that  for  six  days  and 
nights  in  every  week  this  awful  work  goes  on. 
Useful  industry  stops  and  takps  its  Sabbath's  rest, 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  37 

but  six  days  and  nights  are  not  enough  for  the 
trade  of  Satan.  He  must  gather  on  Sunday  too 
his  harvest  of  human  souls." 

"Why?"  asked  Mrs.  Sterling;  "is  not  this  Sun 
day  law  enforced  ?  Surely  it  ought  to  be." 

"  If/'  replied  Sister  Green,  "  your  husband  were 
to  open  his  store  on  Sunday  and  sell  his  goods,  all 
made  for  useful  purposes,  and  not  to  hurt  his  neigh 
bor,  he  would  have  public  sentiment  at  once  arrayed 
against  him  and  the  law  invoked  to  prevent  his 
desecration  of  the  Sabbath.  But  when  the  whisky - 
seller  sets  a  more  stringent  law  at  defiance — a  law 
made  specially  to  protect  the  people  from  his  hurt 
ful  business  for  at  least  one  day  in  seven — we  prove 
too  weak  to  restrain  him.  Judges,  law  officers  and 
juries  are  all  at  fault  or  on  his  side.  You  cannot 
convict  him  of  a  breach  of  the  law,  though  the 
judge  before  whom  he  is  tried  and  the  jurymen  who 
clear  him  know,  every  man  of  them,  that  he  breaks 
the  law  a  hundred  times  or  more  on  every  Sabbath 
day.  He  comes  off  triumphant,  and  the  men  who 
inform  upon  him  and  do  their  best  to  stop  his 
wicked' work  are  sneered  at  by  the  people,  or,  still 
worse,  persecuted  and  injured  in  their  good  name  or 
in  their  business.  Only  last  week  I  went  to  Judge 


38  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

Isett  and  asked  him  if  nothing  could  be  done  about 
this  dreadful  Sunday  business,  which  is  troubling 
me  more  than  I  can  tell." 

"And  what  did  he  say?"  asked  Mrs.  Gordon, 
from  whose  face  the  crimson  stains  had  gone  out, 
leaving  it  paler  than  before. 

"  His  looks  said  that  I  had  better  mind  my  house 
and  say  my  prayers.  I  am  quick  at  reading  faces. 
He  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  lifted  his  eyebrows 
and  set  his  mouth  a  little  hard. 

" '  Well,  Mrs.  Green/  said  he,  '  what  would  you 
have  done  about  it  ?' 

" '  I  would  have  it  stopped,  Judge  Isett,'  said  I. 
'  It's  against  the  law,,  and  should  be  stopped.7 

" '  I  know  it's  against  the  law,'  he  replied. 

" '  Then/  said  I,  <  why  don't  you  stop  it  ?' 

" ( It  is  not  any  more  my  business  than  it  is  yours, 
Mrs.  Green/  answered  the  judge, '  nor,  indeed,  half 
as  much.  I  haven't  anything  to  do  with  bringing 
cases  into  court;  the  people,  you  and  the  rest  of 
them,  must  do  that.  My  business  is  to  hear  cases 
for  the  people,  submit  them  to  juries  and  sentence 
those  who  are  found  guilty  of  breaking  the  law.' 

" ( Then/  said  I,  '  whose  duty  is  it  to  see  to  these 
things?' 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  39 

" '  It's  the  duty  of  the  people/  returned  the  judge, 
in  that  cold,  polite  manner  he  can  assume  when  he 
chooses. 

" '  How  are  the  people  to  stop  it  ?'  I  asked. 

"'By  having  the  offenders  arrested  and  tried 
under  the  law/  he  replied.  '  This  law/  he  added, 
'  is  very  plain,  and  prohibits,  under  penalty  of  fine 
and  imprisonment,  every  one  from  selling  or  giving 
away  spirituous  or  malt  liquors,  wine  or  cider  on 
Sunday.  A  citizen  can  go  before  a  magistrate  and 
give  information  against  any  one  whom  he  has  seen 
violating  the  Sunday  law.  The  magistrate  will 
then  issue  a  warrant ;  and  armed  with  this  warrant, 
the  constable  will  arrest  the  offender,  who  will  have 
to  appear  in  court  and  answer  to  the  charge  made 
against  him.  If  found  guilty,  he  will  be  punished. 
That  is  the  simple,  straightforward  process,  madam. 
Nothing  could  be  plainer.  If  the  people  in  Delhi 
want  the  sale  of  liquor  on  Sunday  stopped,  they  can 
stop  it.  The  whole  thing  is  in  their  hands.' 

" '  But,  Judge  Isett/  said  I,  '  why  is  it  that  no 
convictions  have  ever  been  made  in  this  county  ? 
You  have  had  Sunday  liquor  cases  before  you,  but 
the  offenders  have  always  escaped.7 

" '  That  was  because  no  evidence  strong  enough 


40  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

to  convict  was  presented  to  the  court.  You  cannot 
convict  a  man  on  insufficient  evidence/  he  replied. 

" '  But  it  was  notorious  that  the  men  who  were 
tried  kept  their  bars  open  on  -Sunday/  said  I. 
'  Men  and  boys  were  seen  going  in  and  drinking 
hour  after  hour,  from  morning  until  night. 
Stronger  evidence  of  the  breach  of  a  law  could 
hardly  be  found  in  any  case  of  crime  than  in  these 
cases.  What  does  it  mean  ?  I  can't  understand  it, 
Judge  Isett.' 

" '  Not  a  witness  came  forward  to  swear  that  he 
saw  spirituous  or  malt  liquor,  wine  or  cider  drank, 
as  alleged.  There  must  be  absolute  proof  of  this, 
or  no  jury  can  or  will  convict.  Here  lies  the  diffi 
culty.  A  man  must  himself  taste  the  contents  of  a 
glass  from  which  he  sees  another  drink  before  he 
can  swear  positively  as  to  the  character  of  the  liquor 
imbibed.  He  may  believe — nay,  may  be  morally 
certain — that  the  liquor  is  whisky  or  beer,  may  see 
it  poured  from  a  bottle  labeled  whisky  or  see  it 
drawn  foaming  from  a  keg  or  barrel ;  but  unless 
some  of  the  liquor  pass  his  own  lips,  he  cannot 
swear  beyond  his  belief  as  to  its  character,  and 
mere  belief  won't  convict  a  man  of  crime/ 

" '  But  surely,  judge/  I  urged,  '  out  of  the  hun- 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  41 

dreds  who  drink  liquor  in  our  saloons  on  Sunday, 
some  one  might  be  found  who  would  swear  to  the 
fact.' 

"  '  It  isn't  an  easy  thing  to  find  a  man/  he  re 
plied,  *  who  is  willing  to  come  forward  and  swear 
that  he  went  into  a  saloon  on  Sunday  and  drank  a 
glass  of  whisky.  Your  respectable  temperance 
man  would  hardly  do  this,  and  your  Sunday 
drinker  is  too  good  a  friend  of  the  saloon-keeper 
to  injure  him.  It  is  this  difficulty  of  getting  evi 
dence  that  obstructs  the  course  of  law  in  these 
cases,  Mrs.  Green.  No  man  likes  to  set  himself  up 
as  a  common  informer  or  to  hire  another  to  become 
one.  There  is  in  all  communities  an  instinctive 
feeling  of  contempt  for  this  thing/ 

"  '  Then/  said  I,  '  the  law  is  a  dead  letter.' 

" '  About  as  near  to  it  as  a  thing  can  well  be/  the 
judge  returned ;  and  I  am  not  mistaken  when  I  say 
that  there  was  a  tone  of  triumph  in  his  voice. 

" '  And  men  made  the  law/  I  said,  speaking  with 
the  stern  rebuke  that  was  in  my  heart — '  made  it 
that  it  might  be  broken — a  law  to  deceive  the 
people — a  law  so  deftly  framed  that  its  execution  is 
next  to  impossible.  And  other  men,  the  great 
body  of  the  people  who  take  upon  themselves  the 


42  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

exclusive  right  to  regulate  society  and  provide  for 
its  well-being,  tamely  and  weakly  permit  them 
selves  to  be  cheated  and  wronged.  And  we  who 
suffer  most  deeply  from  all  social  evils  can  only 
fold  our  hands  in  helpless  sorrow.  We  have  no 
voice  when  men  are  chosen  who  are  to  make  the 
laws,  and  no  voice  when  men  are  chosen  to  execute 
them.  We  stand  dumb  and  powerless.  Men  make 
sorry  work,  Judge  Isett,  in  their  efforts  to  deal  with 
a  question  that  above  all  others  most  deeply  con 
cerns  the  people.  More  than  four-fifths  of  all  the 
crime,  suffering,  pauperism  and  insanity  in  the  land 
— as  you  well  know — comes  from  a  legalized  wrong. 
And  State  and  nation  draw  large  revenues  from  a 
few  men  who  pay  for  the  privilege  of  pauperizing 
the  land  and  filling  its  prisons,  poorhouses  and 
charitable  homes  with  thousands  and  tens  of  thou 
sands  of  miserable  victims.  They  add  nothing  to 
its  peace,  its  prosperity  or  its  happiness,  conserve 
nothing,  build  up  nothing,  but  hurt  and  destroy 
everywhere.  Alas  for  us !  there  is  no  help  in  man. 
But  God  will  yet  come  to  our  succor.  It  cannot  be 
that  the  direful  rule  of  wicked  or  incompetent  men 
is  to  go  on  for  ever.' 

"  The  judge  was  annoyed,  and  answered  a  little 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  43 

roughly.  But  I  forgive  him,  for  I  know  how  apt 
I  am  to  speak  strongly  when  I  talk  on  this  subject. 
I  came  away  from  the  interview  depressed  and 
heartsick.  I  had  hoped  to  find  the  judge  ready  to 
do  all  in  his  power  to  break  up  the  sale  of  liquor 
on  Sunday,  the  day  of  all  others  in  the  week  when 
men  and  half-grown  boys  are  idle  and  easily  led 
into  temptation.  But  on  his  showing,  it  does  not 
lie  with  him ;  and  if  it  did,  Fin  afraid  he  would 
not  have  the  courage  to  grapple  with  the  evil." 

There  was  a  troubled  expression  on  the  three 
women's  faces  as  they  sat  and  talked  together,  and 
a  hopeless  feeling  at  their  hearts.  Sister  Green 
had  a  son  just  entering  upon  manhood.  He  had 
been  the  child  of  her  prayers  ever  since  his  sweet 
baby  eyes  opened  to  the  light.  She  had  nurtured 
him  in  the  fear  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  She 
had,  so  far  as  will  and  thought  on  her  part  could 
go,  consecrated  him  to  her  divine  Saviour,  praying 
that  he  might  be  led  to  him  and  filled  with  his 
saving  Spirit. 

Wesley  Green,  up  to  his  eighteenth  year,  had 
been  a  quiet,  obedient  boy,  readily  yielding  to  the 
will  of  his  mother,  whose  character  was  stronger 
than  that  of  his  father.  But  as  he  drew  near  the 


44  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

age  of  manhood  and  mingled  with  those  older  than 
himself,  he  began  to  rebel  against  a  rule  to  which 
he  had  submitted  so  long  and  with  such  a  gentle 
acquiescence.  His  love  of  companionship,  natu 
rally  strong,  but  held  in  check  by  his  mother's  fear 
of  bad  influences,  now  became  active;  and  when 
questioned  too  closely  about  those  with  whom  he 
associated,  he  sometimes  showed  a  degree  of  irri 
tability  that  caused  great  concern  at  home. 

It  had  been  the  dear  desire  of  Mrs.  Green's  heart 
to  see  her  son  a  preacher  of  righteousness.  For 
this  she  had  prayed  in  her  closet  every  day  from 
the  years  of  his  tender^childhood  upward  until 
the  downy  beard  began  to  touch  with  soft  shadows 
his  lip  and  cheeks.  But  with  a  deeper  and  intenser 
fervor  and  with  a  profounder  solicitude  had  she 
prayed  for  his  conversion — for  that  change  of  heart 
which  she  believed  could  only  be  given  in  answer 
to  the  prayer  of  faith,  and  without  which  her  boy 
would  remain  an  alien  from  God  and  be  lost  for 
ever  if  he  died. 

Faithfully  had  Mrs.  Green  done  her  duty  by  her 
son.  With  care  and  diligence  from  the  very 
beginning  had  she  tried  to  store  up  in  his  mind 
precious  truths  from  the  Bible,  reading  to  him  its 


WOMAN  TO  THE  EESCUE.  45 

sacred  narratives,  its  plainer  precepts  and  i|^  beau 
tiful  parables,  and  this  with  continued  repetitions, 
until  his  memory  was  filled  with  the  letter  in  which 
dwelt  a  divine  life  and  power.  And  she  taught 
him  lessons  of  faith  and  trust  in  God,  of  good 
will  and  service  to  others,  of  pity  and  tenderness 
and  mercy. 

It  was  the  saddest  trial  of  Mrs.  Green's  life, 
her  bitterest  disappointment,  when,  after  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years  of  prayers  and  tears  and  long 
wrestlings  with  God  for  the  conversion  of  her  boy, 
she  found  him  impenitent  and  almost  indifferent  to 
the  things  of  religion.  The  world  had  greater 
charms  than  the  Church;  but  to  see  him  go  out 
into  the  world  and  partake  of  its  spirit,  to  be  sub 
ject  to  its  allurements  and  assailed  by  its  tempta 
tions,  to  drift  far  off  from  her  upon  its  deceitful 
waters,  and  all  the  while  be  alien  to  God  and 
under  his  displeasure,  unconverted,  and  therefore 
in  hourly  danger  of  losing  his  soul, — ah !  here 
was  a  sorrow  that  went  down  to  the  very  life- 
springs  of  this  mother  in  Israel,  and  made  them 
bitter  as  Marah's  waters. 

Wesley's  preference  was  for  business,  not  for  the 
ology,  and  with  heavy  forebodings  his  mother  saw 


46  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

him  enter  a  store  on  Main  street  the  owner  of  which 

v 

was  an  irreligious  man  named  Donald  Frank.  If 
the  young  man  could  have  seen  her  in  her  closet, 
alone  with  God,  on  the  morning  of  that  day,  and 
could  have  heard  her  prayers  for  him,  the  memory 
of  her  upturned,  tearful,  pleading  face  and  the 
tender  eloquence  of  her  petitions  could  hardly  have 
failed  to  become  as  a  talisman,  warning  him  at  the 
approach  of  danger  no  matter  how  false  the  guise, 
and  holding  him  back  in  the  presence  of  evil 
enticement. 

Up  to  this  time  Wesley  Green's  intimacies  were 
not  with  the  worldly-minded  young  men  of  Delhi. 
His  associations  had  been  almost  entirely  limited  to 
the  young  people  belonging  to  the  Methodist  church, 
and  he  had  been  taught  to  believe  that  outside  of 
these  limitations  lay  a  wilderness  of  danger.  Now 
his  feet  began  to  stray  into  this  wilderness,  and  he 
found  it  a  pleasant  land.  The  young  men  he  met 
were  exceedingly  agreeable,  and  their  ways  pleased 
him.  There  was  a  freedom  to  which  he  had  been 
a  stranger  and  a  levity  that,  instead  of  shocking, 
amused  him.  The  jestings  about  sacred  things  and 
the  stories  making  light  of  religion  which  were 
often  told  in  his  hearing  grated  for  a  time  on  his 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  47 

feelings.  But  this  sensitiveness  gradually  wore  off, 
and  he  could  enjoy  these  stories  with  as  keen  a 
pleasure  as  the  rest.  Gradually  but  steadily  Wes 
ley  Green  lost  his  interest  in  religion,  and  became 
as  much  absorbed  in  worldly  pleasures  as  any  of 
his  new  associates. 

This  change  the  mother  saw  with  a  sorrowful 
heart.  Without  the  safeguard  of  prayer  and  faith 
and  trust  in  God,  she  knew  that  her  boy  was  in 
great  danger.  In  a  town  like  Delhi  most  of  the 
young  men  belonging  to  what  are  called  the  best 
people  of  the  place — that  is,  the  wealthy,  educated 
and  more  intelligent — are  thrown  together,  and 
form  intimacies.  Among  these  are  always  a  few 
leading  spirits ;  and  if  they,  as  is  frequently  the  case, 
are  self-indulgent  young  men  and  inclined  to  vicious 
habits,  their  influence  upon  the  rest  is  fraught  with 
great  evil.  The  tavern  is  too  often  the  resort  of 
these  young  men.  You  will  see  them  lounging 
about  its  doors  through  the  day  or  congregating  in 
its  bar-room  at  night.  They  are  gay,  good  fellows, 
very  social  and  free,  and  draw  weaker  young  men 
after  them  as  easily  as  a  ship  draws  a  pinnace. 

All  this  the  anxious  mother  knew,  and  she  had  a 
perpetual  heartache  as  she  saw  day  by  day  some 


48  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

fresh  evidence  of  her  boy's  absorption  into  the  new 
social  life  with  which  he  had  come  in  contact.  A 
week  after  the  entrance  of  Wesley  Green  into  Mr. 
Frank's  store,  Jimmy  Hanlan  opened  his  attractive 
saloon.  It  was  diagonally  across  from  the  store, 
which  occupied  one  of  the  corners  made  by  the  in 
tersection  of  Elm  and  Main  streets.  The  opening 
of  this  saloon  had  been  quite  an  event,  and  every 
one  on  the  street  was  talking  about  it.  The  first 
day,  Jimmy,  who,  with  all  his  coarseness,  under 
stood  human  nature,  especially  on  its  weak  side, 
kept  open  house,  dispensing  free  liquor  all  day  and 
free  lunches  at  least  four  times.  Most  of  the  store 
keepers  on  Main  and  Elm  streets,  where  the  chief 
business  of  the  town  was  carried  on,  and  most  of 
their  clerks  also,  complimented  Jimmy  Hanlan  with 
a  call,  drank  his  free  whisky  and  beer  and  ate  of 
his  savory  lunches,  some  of  them  repeating  the  vis 
itation  more  than  once,  and  two  three  who  usually 
kept  their  heads  clear  going  home  at  night  visibly 
the  worse  for  Hanlan's  new  enterprise. 

Up  to  this  time  Wesley  Green  had  never  tasted 
liquor  at  any  bar  in  Delhi.  But  led  by  curiosity 
to  see  the  handsome  fittings  up  of  the  "Hanlan 
House,"  the  praise  of  which  was  on  almost  every 


WOMAN  TO    THE  RESCUE.  49 

tongue,  he  went  with  one  of  his  fellow-clerks  to  see 
the  show.  He  found  a  dozen  young  men  in  the 
bar,  many  of  whom  he  knew,  eating,  drinking  and 
enjoying  themselves.  Jimmy  was  at  his  counter, 
radiant  and  affable.  He  had  risen  suddenly  into  a 
man  of  importance.  The  common  porter  whom  a 
little  while  before  no  one  cared  to  notice  found 
himself  grasped  cordially  by  the  hand  by  lawyers, 
judges,  merchants  and  doctors,  all  of  whom  drank 
his  liquor  and  praised  his  elegant  establishment, 
prophesying  success  to  his  new  and  liberal-minded 
enterprise. 

Wesley  did  not  mean  to  taste  Hanlan's  liquor, 
but  he  tasted  it,  nevertheless.  The  enticement  was 
too  strong.  He  felt  uncomfortable  about  it,  and 
at  dinner-time  kept  from  going  too  near  his  mother, 
lest  some  odor  of  the  beer  he  had  taken  might 
linger  on  his  breath  and  betray  him. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  follow  this  young  man 
along  the  dangerous  path  into  which  his  feet  di 
verged  that  morning.  We  only  show  the  easy  and 
natural  way  in  which  the  first  step  was  taken. 
Scarcely  a  year  had  passed  before  his  mother  had 
deeper  cause  for  sorrow,  and  it  was  not  simply  her 
anxiety  for  the  common  good  that  inspired  her  visit 


50  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

to  Judge  Isett  and  drew  from  her  that  strong  ap 
peal  for  legal  interference  in  the  sale  of  liquor  on 
Sunday.  The  inspiring  motive  lay  nearer  her 
aching  heart. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  ten  years  that  followed  the  opening  of 
Jimmy  Hanlan's  new  drinking  house  was 
marked  by  many  changes,  some  of  which  we  shall 
now  describe  as  briefly  as  possible.  Delhi  is  a  rep 
resentative  American  town,  and  what  we  are  about 
to  tell  in  regard  to  Delhi  might  be  told  of  hundreds — 
nay,  thousands — of  our  towns  and  cities. 

Ah!  if  the  people,  with  whom  all  power  and  all 
reforms  rest,  would  only  take  the  lesson  to  heart ! 
From  the  day  this  saloon,  so  much  more  attractive 
and  "  respectable "  than  any  before  seen  in  Delhi, 
opened  its  doors  and  threw  out  its  invitations, 
changes  scarcely  observed  at  first,  but  gradually  pro 
gressing,  began  to  appear.  There  had '  been  two  or 
three  reading  clubs  made  up  of  young  ladies  and 
young  gentlemen  who  met  every  week.  But  it  was 
not  long  before  one  and  another  of  the  young  men 
began  to  drop  out,  and  within  little  more  than  a  year 
all  were  broken  up.  Many  of  these  young  men  you 
would  find  at  the  "  Hanlan  House"  if  you  happened 

51 


52  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

to  call  in  there  during  the  evening  to  meet  a  friend. 
It  was  a  notable  place  for  meeting  one's  friends — a 
kind  of  social  exchange  for  Delhi.  If  these  young 
men  were  not  in  the  bar,  you  would  be  very  apt 
to  find  them  in  one  of  Jimmy's  snug  little  rooms 
up'  stairs,  out  of  the  way  of  common  observation. 
They  might  be  drinking  socially,  or  playing  at  cards, 
or  eating  one  of  the  nice  suppers  Jimmy  knew  so 
well  how  to  provide.  Reading  clubs  were  tame 
aifairs  to  the  meetings  at  Hanlan's. 

A  debating  society  had  flourished  for  some  years 
in  Delhi.  Law  students  and  other  young  men  who 
sought  to  improve  themselves  met  twice  a  month 
in  the  town-hall,  and  their  mothers  and  sisters 
and  sweethearts  came  regularly  to  hear  their  dis 
cussions,  and  to  enjoy  the  intellectual  recreation  to 
be  found  there.  This  debating  society  was  one  of 
the  attractive  institutions  of  the  place.  But  soon 
after  the  new  saloon  was  opened  a  blight  fell  upon 
it.  One  after  another  of  the  smartest  young  men 
lost  interest  in  the  meetings  and  stayed  away.  If 
you  sought  for  them,  you  would  be  very  sure  to 
find  them  at  Jimmy  Hanlan's.  The  less  gifted 
members  of  the  society  failed  to  bring  out  the 
usual  audiences,  and  naturally  the  debating  society, 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  53 

which  had  been  so  large  a  source  of  improvement 
and  pleasure,  languished. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  year,  Hanlan,  who  was  a 
wide-awake,  progressive  young  fellow,  added  a  new 
attraction  to  his  establishment  in  the  shape  of  a 
billiard-table.  Two  rooms  in  the  second  story  of 
his  house  were  made  into  one,  and  fitted  up  as  a 
billiard  saloon.  This  was  a  coup  de  grace  to  the 
reading  clubs  and  debating  society ;  from  that  time 
they  were  things  of  the  past. 

The  success  of  Hanlan  stimulated  all  the  other 
saloon-keepers,  and  caused  them  to  offer  increased 
attractions  to  the  public.  Old,  dingy  places  were 
brightened  up ;  showy  fronts,  red  curtains  and  red 
lights  began  to  multiply  with  singular  rapidity. 
New  saloons  were  opened,  and  within  an  incredibly 
short  time  the  number  was  doubled.  Up  to  the 
time  of  Hanlan's  enterprising  movement  in  Delhi 
there  was  not  a  single  billiard  saloon  in  the  place, 
and  but  two  bagatelle-tables.  The  men  who  sold 
liquor  were  dull,  plodding  fellows,  satisfied  with 
what  came  to  them  over  the  counter  in  a  natural 
way,  and  not  therefore  inclined  to  new  expedients 
and  new  attractions  in  order  to  draw  custom.  But 
the  sharp  young  rumseller  was  giving  the  fraternity 


54  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

some  new  lessons,  and  they  were  not  slow  to  profit 
by  them.  There  were  no  less  than  ten  bagatelle- 
boards  in  the  town  at  the  close  of  the  first  year, 
and  within  two  years  the  number  rose  to  fifteen. 
Four  billiard-tables  were  by  that  time  in  full  blast, 
and  daily  and  nightly  patronized  by  young  men,  a 
large  number  of  whom  were  too  weak  to  stand  up 
against  the  demoralizing  influences  that  pervade  the 
atmosphere  of  a  billiard  room.  And  against  all 
this  no  remonstrance  was  raised  by  the  people  at 
large.  Quietly  they  saw  it  go  on,  and  quietly  they 
submitted.  A  few  temperance  men  and  a  few 
anxious  wives  and  mothers  deplored  this  new  state 
of  affairs  and  lifted  their  voices  in  warning,  but 
they  might  as  well  have  talked  to  the  wind. 

You  cannot  multiply  bars  and  drinking  saloons 
without  a  corresponding  increase  in  vice,  crime  and 
immorality.  The  more  attractive  and  "respect 
able"  you  make  them,  the  more  certain  you  are  to 
corrupt,  deprave  and  destroy  the  best  and  most 
promising  young  men  in  a  town.  This  is  the 
operation  of  a  natural  law  that  always  works  with 
unerring  certainty — the  law  of  cause  and  effect. 
Every  human  act  has  in  it  the  vitality  of  a  cause. 
It  is  a  seed  thrown  into  the  rich  soil  of  common 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  55 

society,  and  will  surely  produce  fruit  after  its  kind — 
good,  if  good ;  evil,  if  evil. 

Delhi  could  not  escape  the  action  of  a  law  that 
never  fails.  The  effect  of  this  broadcast  sowing 
of  the  worst  seed  it  is  possible  to  scatter  in  a  com 
munity — the  worst  because  it  not  only  brings  forth 
sorrow  and  death,  but  so  poisons  the  soil  that 
scarcely  any  good  seed  can  take  root  therein — was 
not  apparent  merely  in  the  dying  out  of  reading 
clubs  and. literary  associations.  These  were  but 
negative  effects.  The  positive  were  multiplied  far 
beyond  these,  and  of  a  sadder  character.  Scarcely 
a  year  and  a  half  had  gone  by  since  a  new  impulse 
was  given  to  the  drinking  trade  by  Jimmy  Hanlan, 
ere  in  hundreds  of  hearts  where  peace  had  rested, 
anxiety,  fear  and  sorrowful  forebodings  now  found 
a  dwelling-place.  Mothers  were  in  alarm  for  their 
sons,  wives  for  their  husbands  and  sisters  for  their 
brothers.  You  began  to  hear  expressions  of  regret. 
This  promising  young  man  was  throwing  himself 
away,  and  that  storekeeper  was  neglecting  his  busi 
ness  and  spending  half  of  his  time  at  the  "  Hanlan 

House."     Mr.  A was  seen  staggering  home  late 

at  night,  and  Lawyer  G was  so  drunk  on  one 

occasion  in  court  that  the  judge  had  to  rebuke  him, 


56  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

when  he  became  insolent,  and  was  only  quieted  by 
threat  of  imprisonment  for  contempt.  Young  men 
who  had  always  been  seen  at  church  on  Sundays 
came  no  longer,  and  many  wives  who  had  for  years 
walked  with  their  husbands,  Sabbath  after  Sabbath, 
to  the  house  of  God,  went  now,  with  sober  faces 
and  drooping  heads,  alone.  Among  these  were  the 
two  ladies  already  introduced  to  the  reader — Mrs. 
Sterling  and  Mrs.  Gordon.  It  was  the  husband  of 
the  latter  who  had  received  the  judge's  rebuke. 

Not  alone  among  the  more  refined  and  cultivated 
people  in  Delhi  was  seen  the  unhappy  consequences 
of  this  newly-stimulated  and  rapid  growth  of  the 
liquor  interest.  Its  grosser  effects  soon  became 
apparent  in  an  increase  of  open  drunkenness  and 
rowdyism  in  the  lower  stratum  of  society.  Acts  of 
violence  were  on  the  increase ;  cases  of  assault  and 
battery,  of  wife-beating,  of  assault  with  intent  to 
kill,  of  robbery  and  housebreaking,  perpetrated  by 
men  who,  a  year  or  two  before,  were  industrious 
laborers  or  mechanics ;  cases  in  which  the  interfer 
ence  of  the  court  was  asked  to  prevent  husbands 
and  fathers  who  had  become  intemperate  from 
further  waste  of  property  and  consequent  beggary 
of  their  families ;  cases  of  crimes  committed  in 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  57 

states  of  drunken  frenzy, — were  beginning  to  crowd 
the  court  calendar  and  absorb  the  attention  of 
judges  and  jurors  to  a  degree  never  before  known 
in  the  county  of  which  Delhi  was  the  legal  centre. 

Taxes  were  on  the  increase.  The  old  poorhouse, 
the  rooms  of  which  were  never  more  than  half 
full,  had  become  overcrowded,  and  the  county 
commissioners  were  obliged  to  levy  a  tax  upon  the 
people  in  order  to  build  an  addition.  The  cost  of 
criminal  prosecutions  was  becoming  greater  and 
greater  every  year,  and  the  commitments  for  va 
rious  offences,  nearly  all  of  which  could  be  traced 
to  intemperance,  were  now  so  large  that  the  jail 
accommodations  proved  wholly  insufficient.  A  new 
jail  was  decided  upon  by  the  commissioners,  and 
proposals  for  plans  and  cost  of  construction  were 
advertised  to  be  sent  in  to  the  Board. 

One  of  the  worst  aspects  of  the  new  order  of 
things  which  had  come  as  a  legitimate  consequence 
of  the  stimulated  liquor  traffic  was  the  increase  of 
idleness  and  vagabondism  among  the  lower  classes 
of  young  men,  who  made  these  drinking-places 
their  nightly  haunts  and  spent  their  time  there  in 
drinking,  gambling,  indecent  talk  and  all  that  in 
cited  to  blackguardism,  vice  and  crime.  Most  of 


58  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

these  young  men  had  family  relations — they  were 
sons,  brothers  and,  some  of  them,  husbands;  and 
for  every  glass  of  liquor  they  drank,  for  every  hour 
they  wasted  in  vicious  idleness,  for  every  breach  of 
the  peace  they  committed  in  drunken  excitement, 
and  for  every  crime  into  which  drink  led  them, 
some  hearts  besides  their  own  suffered,  and  some 
lives  were  made  sadder  and  drearier. 

Every  one  of  these  saloons  was  a  nursery  of 
vice  and  crime.  The  viler  ones,  kept  too  often  by 
men  who  had  seen  years  of  penal  service  in  jails 
and  State  prisons,  were  especially  hurtful,  because 
they  enticed  from  the  ways  of  sobriety  a  class  of 
uneducated  young  men  in  whom  there  had  been 
little  moral  culture,  and  so  removed  them  from  the 
better  influences  that  might  have  led  to  their  be 
coming  useful  and  honest  men — a  help  to  society 
and  a  blessing  to  their  families. 

But  instead  of  this,  the  graduates  of  these  hot 
beds  of  vicious  culture  came  forth  as  the  pests  and 
scourges  of  society.  They  became  men  of  violence 
or  plotters'  against  the  well-being  of  society,  or 
wretched  drunkards,  the  prison  or  the  almshouse 
their  destination. 

The  shadow  that  dropped  so  suddenly  across  the 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  59 

sunny  life  of  Mrs.  Sterling  never  lifted  itself.  On 
returning  from  the  house  of  Mrs.  Gordon  after  the 
conversation  held  there  with  her  friend  and  Mrs. 
Hhoda  Green,  her  heart  was  heavy  with  a  strange 
oppression.  She  seemed  standing  in  the  presence 
of  some  great  disaster.  The  evil  which  for  many 
months  had  been  steadily  but  with  silent  and  un 
seen  steps  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  had  become 
all  at  once  revealed  at  her  very  door,  for  now,  with 
a  suddenness  that  gave  her  a  shock  of  pain,  there 
stood  before  her  the  remembrance  of  many  things 
which,  seen  in  the  new  light  this  conversation 
afforded,  had  a  most  threatening  aspect. 

That  a  change  had  been  steadily  coming  over 
her  husband  Mrs.  Sterling  had  seen  for  several 
months,  but  the  real  cause  of  that  change  had 
never  until  now  been  imagined.  Nothing  could 
have  been  farther  from  her  than  the  fear  of  his  be 
coming  a  drunkard.  But  when  this  hideous  fear 
thrust  itself  upon  her,  the  anguish  it  occasioned 
seemed  for  a  while  more  than  she  could  bear. 

When  Mrs.  Sterling  met  her  husband  that  even 
ing  on  his  return  from  business,  she  hid  from  him 
the  trouble  that  had  come  into  her  soul,  but 
watched  his  every  word  and  action  with  the  closest 


60  WOMAN  TO   THE  KESCUE. 

scrutiny.  Things  unheeded  before  were  revela 
tions  now.  The  clear  balance  of  his  mind  was 
gone,  and  there  were  little  signs  of  weakness  and  a 
latent  irritability  that  were  altogether  unlike  her 
husband's  real  self.  Could  there  be  any  cause  for 
this  but  drink  ?  It  was  a  plain,  hard,  humiliating 
question.  But  Mrs.  Sterling  put  it  to  her  heart, 
and  found  but  one  answer,  and  that  was  No ! 
From  this  hour  her  new  life  of  sorrow  and  dread 
and  deep  humiliation  began. 

"Stay  home  with  me,  Luke  dear,"  she  said,  in 
her  loving  way,  drawing  her  arm  within  that  of 
her  husband  as  he  was  preparing  to  go  out  after 
supper. 

Luke  Sterling  kissed  his  wife  tenderly,  and  then 
turned  his  head  a  little  from  her,  so  that  she  could 
not  look  directly  into  his  face,  as  he  answered : 

"  I  won't  be  gone  a  great  while,  Polly.  We've 
been  very  busy  at  the  store,  and  there  are  several 
large  accounts  that  must  be  ready  by  to-morrow. 
I  tried  to  get  at  them  to-day,  but  couldn't  find  the 
time." 

He  did  not  look  back  at  his  wife,  but  went  out 
in  a  kind  of  nervous  naste.  As  the  door  shut  all 
the  light  faded  from  Mrs.  Sterling's  countenance. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  61 

Fear  crept  into  her  eyes.  She  sat  down  with  a  slow, 
weary  air,  and  remained  in  statue-like  stillness  for 
a  long  time.  A  book  that  she  had  been  reading 
lay  upon  the  table,  but  its  attractions  were  gone. 
After  a  while  she  went  up  stairs  to  the  chamber 
where  her  two  children  were  sleeping,  and  hovered 
for  some  time  about  their  bed,  now  sitting  and 
gazing  into  their  sweet  baby  faces  with  eyes  full  of 
yearning  and  sadness,  and  now  moving  aimlessly 
about  the  room.  Her  spirit  was  deeply  disturbed. 
After  an  hour  she  began  to  hearken  toward  the 
street,  and  to  grow  very  still  when  the  sound  of 
distant  feet  was  heard,  sighing  heavily  when  they 
drew  near  enough  for  her  to  know  that  they  were 
not  the  feet  of  her  beloved,  for  whom  she  waited 
now  with  a  feeling  of  anxious  concern  until  this 
night  a  stranger  to  her  heart. 

It  was  past  ten  o'clock  when  Luke  Sterling  came 
home.  He  entered  with  a  snatch  of  song  upon  his 
lips.  This  was  not  unusual,  for  Luke  was  of  a 
gay  and  cheerful  temper,  and  often  came  in  singing 
a  merry  air.  He  was  a  little  louder  than  usual  to 
night,  and  a  little  more  emphatic  in  the  kiss  and 
embrace  with  which  he  was  wont  to  greet  his  wife. 

"  Sorry  to  have  kept  you  waiting  for  me  so  long, 


62  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

Polly,"  he  said  as  he  held  her  in  his  arms  and 
breathed  into  her  face  his  telltale  breath,  "but 
couldn't  get  through  a  minute  before.  Shall  riot 
be  out  so  late  again  if  I  can  help  it.  Bless  me, 
Polly !"  he  added  a  moment  afterward  as  he  saw 
her  face  more  clearly.  "  What's  the  matter  ?  Are 
you  sick  ?" 

"I've  not  been  feeling  right  all  the  evening," 
Mrs.  Sterling  replied. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?"  asked  her  husband,  with 
real  concern. 

She  put  her  hands  to  her  temples  as  she  replied : 
"  My  head  is  aching,  and  I  feel  nervous." 
"  I'll  go  right  off  for  Doctor  Sandford ;"  and  Mr. 
Sterling  made  a  movement  toward  the  door.     But 
his  wife  restrained  him,  saying  that  she  would  be 
better  after  a  night's  rest. 

But  sleep  and  rest  were  not  the  medicine  for  her 
sickness.  The  morning  found  her  with  a  pale  face 
and  unsteady  nerves,  and  without  appetite  for  food. 
It  was  not  possible  for  Mrs.  Sterling  to  rally  in  this 
short  time  and  brace  herself  for  the  new  life  that 
was  before  her.  All  night  she  had  been  awake, 
while  her  husband  slept  heavily  by  her  side,  and 
all  night  she  had  been  haunted  with  fearful  images 


i 

WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  63 

and  dreadful  forebodings.  The  future  until  now 
so  full  of  beautiful  promise — the  future  into  which 
she  had  looked  for  years,  seeing  nothing  but  happi 
ness — had  suddenly  become  a  desert  waste  to  her 
eyes.  It  would  take  time  for  her  to  gather  up  her 
strength  and  walk  forward  again  with  steady  'steps. 

Luke  did  not  rise  on  that  morning  with  his  usual 
feeling  of  elasticity.  He  had  gone  to  his  store  on 
the  previous  evening,  but  did  not  remain  there  for 
over  half  an  hour.  For  the  balance  of  the  time 
until  after  ten  o'clock  he  had  been  with  friends  at 
Hanlan's,  and  there  had  been  more  champagne 
drank  than  any  of  their  heads  could  bear  without 
considerable  nervous  remonstrance.  In  the  case  of 
Luke  it  was  very  decided.  He  felt,  as  the  saying  is, 
"  all  upset ;"  his  hands  were  unsteady  and  his  head 
dull  and  inclined  to  ache.  The  breakfast  passed 
almost  in  silence — something  very  unusual  in  that 
pleasant  home. 

Here  began  the  sorrowful  "new  departure"  in 
the  lives  of  Luke  and  Polly  Sterling  which  brought 
them  to  that  sad  condition  in  which  they  were  found 
by  the  reader  at  the  opening  of  this  story.  For  ten 
years  had  they  walked  the  new  way  into  which  their 
feet  then  diverged,  finding  it  drearier  and  harder, 


64  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

rougher  and  more  desolate,  with  every  advancing 
step. 

It  took  a  long  time  for  Mrs.  Sterling  to  so  fully 
comprehend  her  new  condition  and  new  duties  as 
to  be  able  to  meet  them  in  that  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
and  faithful  adhesion  to  the  man  she  loved,  in  spite 
of  his  infirmities  and  his  debasement,  which  she 
felt  to  be  her  duty.  But  after  she  had  settled  all 
the  questions  that  presented  themselves  and  set  aside 
all  outside  influences  that  wisely  or  unwisely  pressed 
themselves  upon  her,  she  met  the  destiny  she  could 
not  avert,  with  the  strength  and  patience  and  self- 
abnegation  that  is  possible  only  in  a  loving  woman. 

By  the  end  of  another  year  the  effect  of  drink 
began  to  show  itself  on  Mr.  Sterling.  No  one  had 
ever  seen  him  intoxicated,  though  all  his  friends 
saw  and  said  that  he  was  drinking  too  much.  He 
still  attended  faithfully  to  his  business,  and  was 
steadily  accumulating  property.  The  handsome 
house  he  had  built  just  on  the  outskirt  of  the  town, 
on  an  elevated  site  that  overlooked  a  sweep  of  green 
meadow-land  through  which  ran  a  beautiful  stream 
of  water,  was  still  his  pride,  and  he  never  seemed 
to  tire  in  the  work  of  ornament  and  improvement. 
No  grounds  were  laid  out  with  better  taste,  and  with 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  65 

a  few  exceptions  it  was  the  most  attractive  house 
in  Delhi. 

It  was  in  this  second  year  that  Mr.  Sterling  made 
his  last  improvement,  in  the  erection  of  a  beautiful 
fountain  in  the  midst  of  the  lawn  that  sloped  down 
to  the  street  in  front  of  his  house.  The  next  year 
he  began  to  get  troubled  in  his  business.  He  made 
bad  debts  and  indiscreet  purchases,  was  tempted 
to  speculate,  and  permitted  himself  to  be  drawn  into 
the  visionary  schemes  of  men  who  generally  man 
age  to  ruin  themselves  and  all  who  trust  them.  He 

o 

still  continued  to  drink,  though,  conscious  of  his 
infirmity,  he  often  made  good  resolutions  and  tried 
to  break  away  from  a  habit  that  he  saw  was  hurt 
ing  him.  But  every  day  he  must  go  past  the 
"Hanlan  House"  a  dozen  times  or  more,  and  there 
was  about  this  house  an  attraction  so  strange  and 
irresistible  that  he  could  not  set  himself  against  it. 
The  fourth  year  saw  Luke  Sterling  seriously  em 
barrassed  in  his  business,  and  compelled  to  raise 
money  by  mortgaging  his  house  for  two-thirds  of 
its  value.  He  had  become,  by  this  time,  greatly 
changed  in  appearance.  His  face  was  puffy  and 
red,  his  eyes  were  blood-shotten,  and  his  voice  no 
longer  possessed  the  clear  musical  tones  that  used  to 


66  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

make  it  so  pleasant,  but  struck  your  ears  with  a 
hoarse,  hard  rattle.  Everybody  saw  whither  he  was 
going ;  everybody  talked  about  and  regretted  it,  and 
everybody  pitied  his  wife  and  family.  But  Luke 
Sterling  was  such  a  good  fellow ;  every  one  liked 
him,  and  every  one  drank  with  him.  If,  after  a 
humiliating  fall — and  such  falls  came  now,  alas !  too 
often — he  made  a  resolution  to  stop  drinking,  not 
twenty-four  hours  would  pass  ere  some  acquaintance 
or  business  friend  would,  with  a  strange  thought 
lessness,  invite  him  to  "  take  a  glass  of  something," 
and  such  an  invitation  he  rarely  had  the  strength 
to  refuse.  There  was  no  help  for  him  anywhere 
outside  of  home.  The  moment  he  stepped  beyond 
its  safe  boundary  he  was  in  the  midst  of  temptation. 
He  could  not  pass  from  his  house  to  his  store  with 
out  going  by  at  least  ten  drinking-saloons ;  and  so 
sensitive  had  his  unhealthy  appetite  become  that  he 
was  not  able  to  look  upon  one  of  these  places  with 
out  feeling  a  desire  for  drink.  This  desire,  if  left 
alone,  he  would  often  have  kept  under.  But  more 
than  half  the  men  in  Delhi  were  suffering  from  a 
chronic  thirst,  and  this  always  became  excited  on 
one  friend  meeting  another.  The  "  Good-morning  " 
or  "Good-afternoon"  or  "Good-evening,  Mr. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  67 

A ,"  or  "Mr.  B ,"  was  too  often  followed 

by,  "Come;  let's  have  something." 

Such  an  invitation  it  was  next  to  impossible  for 
Sterling  to  decline.  Appetite  was  always  impelling 
him,  and  opportunity  ever  at  hand.  So  friend  and 
neighbor  joined  in  the  league  with  death  and  hell 
against  him.  Society  made  it  next  to  impossible, 
now  that  appetite  had  become  stronger  than  will, 
for  a  man  like  Sterling  to  hold  back  his  feet  from 
the  road  that  leads  to  destruction.  Internal  force 
and  outside  pressure  were  both  in  the  same  direc 
tion,  and  both  against  him. 

•  As  Luke  Sterling,  Frank  Gordon  and  a  score 
or  more  besides  of  Delhi's  best  men  were  fast  retra 
cing  the  steps  by  which  they  had  risen  since  early 
manhood  to  the  rank  of  useful  and  prosperous 
citizenship,  other  men  were  gathering  in,  as  they 
and  hundreds  like  them  scattered  and  wasted,  a 
harvest  of  this  world's  goods.  None  of  these  men 
had  greater  thrift  than  Jimmy  Hanlan.  At  the 
end  of  five  years  from  the  time  he  opened  his  sa 
loon  he  was  owner  of  the  fastest  and  most  valuable 
horses  in  the  town.  He  wore  a  diamond  pin  worth 
at  least  two  thousand  dollars,  the  admiration  or 
envy  of  all  the  fast  young  men,  now,  we  are  sorry 


68  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

to  say,  including  a  large  number  of  the  sons  of 
Delhi's  wealthiest  and  most  influential  citizens.  A 
massive  gold  chain  decorated  his  flashy  vest,  and 
he  might  often  be  seen  drawing  forth  his  three-hun 
dred-dollar  gold  watch,  and  displaying  it  with  seem 
ing  unconsciousness  to  the  eyes  of  his  customers. 

Jimmy  Hanlan  had  come  to  be  a  man  of  conse 
quence  in  Delhi,  though  every  person  of  honor, 
taste  and  intelligence  despised  him  in  his  heart. 
But  Delhi  could  not  accept  his  wife.  Coarse,  igno 
rant  and  vulgar,  the  social  world,  in  which  the  wo 
men  reigned  supreme,  ignored  her  entirely.  She 
might  wear  her  fine  clothes  and  flashy  jewels,  and 
drive  out  in  her  elegant  carriage,  but  there  was  a 
charmed  circle  into .  which  she  might  not  enter. 
She  had  tried  to  break  this  circle  at  more  than  one 
point,  but  had  failed  each  time. 

Mrs.  Sterling,  while  Hanlan  was  in  her  husband's 
store,  had  been  kind  to  his  wife  and  helped  her  in 
many  ways  to  make  her  little  family  comfortable. 
Since  Jimmy  had  risen  to  a  better  condition  in  life, 
Mrs.  Hanlan  had  changed  her  bearing  toward  Mrs. 
Sterling  whenever  she  happened  to  meet  her  on  the 
street,  and  assumed  an  air  of  friendly  familiarity  to 
which  Mrs.  Sterling  always  responded  with  a  cold 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  69 

politeness  that  hurt  the  pride  of  Mrs.  Hanlan  and 
awoke  in  her  mind  a  feeling  of  angry  resentment. 

The  mortgage  on  Mr.  Sterling's  house  was  held 
by  Hanlan,  the  profits  on  whose  business  had  in 
creased  so  rapidly  that  he  had  now  become  a  money 
lender.  This  fact  Mrs.  Hanlan  knew,  and  she  also 
knew  that  her  husband's  old  employer  was  on  the 
road  to  ruin  and  moving  along  at  a  rapid  speed. 
Mrs.  Sterling's  steady  refusal  to  give  her  the  social 
recognition  to  which  she  imagined  her  changed 
circumstances  entitled  her  rankled  in  her  heart. 
One  day,  in  riding  past  Mrs.  Sterling's  beautiful 
home,  she  said  to  herself,  with  a  feeling  of  evil 
pleasure, 

"  You're  holding  your  head  high,  my  lady,  but  it's 
coming  down  pretty  soon."  And  as  she  said  this 
it  flashed  across  her  mind  that  now  she  might  have 
a  signal  triumph.  She  had  always  admired  this 
lovely  home  and  envied  Mrs.  Sterling  its  possession. 
Was  not  her  husband  even  now  more  its  owner  than 
Luke  Sterling  ?  Why  should  he  not  be  its  full  pos 
sessor?  This  thought  sent  the  blood  in  a  hot  cur 
rent  along  her  veins.  A  wild  pleasure  burned  in 
her  heart. 

"  Jimmy,"  she  said,  on  meeting  her  husband  that 


70  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

evening,  "  how  much  does  Luke  Sterling  owe  you 
on  his  house?" 

"  Ten  thousand  dollars,"  replied  Hanlan. 

"  All  it's  worth  ?"  remarked  his  wife. 

"No;  it's  worth  fifteen  thousand.  The  house 
cost  him  over  ten  thousand  to  build,  and  he's  spent 
a  good  deal  on  the  grounds  every  year.  It's  one  of 
the  handsomest  places  in  Delhi,  and  worth  every 
cent  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  So  I'm  safe 
enough." 

Mrs.  Hanlan  sat  for  a  little  while  turning  some 
thing  over  in  her  thoughts. 

"  When  is  Gordon's  place  to  be  sold  ?"  she  asked. 

"Next  Monday." 

"  How  high  are  you  going  to  bid  ?" 

"As  high  as  ten  thousand  dollars.  Gordon  has 
neglected  it  in  the  last  two  years,  and  it's  very  much 
out  of  repair." 

"  Dreadfully,"  replied  his  wife.  "  It  will  cost  a 
thousand  or  two  more  to  make  it  fit  to  live  in." 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  it  will." 

"  That  will  make  twelve  thousand." 

"Yes." 

"  It  isn't  worth  it.  And  the  fact  is,  Jimmy,  I've 
changed  my  mind  about  Gordon's  house.  There'll 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  71 

be  another  up  for  sale  before  long  that  I  like  a 
great  deal  better." 

"Whose  house?" 

"Luke  Sterling's." 

Hanlan  gave  a  little  start  of  surprise  : 

"  How  do  you  know  ?" 

"I've  got  eyes.  Sterling  is  going  to  the  dogs 
about  as  fast  as  ever  I  saw  a  man." 

"  Top  true,  I'm  sorry  to  say,"  answered  Hanlan, 
a  shade  of  regret  in  his  voice.  "  He  wants  me  to 
let  him  have  two  thousand  dollars  more  on  the 
house.  You  see  his  business  is  running  down,  and 
he's  getting  cramped  more  and  more  every  day." 

"You're  not  going  to  do  it?" 

"  I  thought  I  would.     It  will  be  safe  enough." 

"Don't." 

"Why  not?" 

"  What's  the  use  of  making  two  or  three  bites  at 
a  cherry  ?  If  it  was  in  my  hands,  I'd  make  short 
work  of  it.  The  fact  is  they've  no  business  to  be 
living  in  a  place  like  that,  head  over  heels  in  debt 
as  they  are.  It's  got  to  go  into  the  hands  of  peo 
ple  that  know  better  how  to  take  care  of  money,, 
and  right  soon  too.  Now,  I  want  that  house, 
Jimmy.  I've  set  my  heart  on  it,  and  don't  mean 


72  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

to  have  any  other  house  in  town.  Mrs.  Sterling 
has  snubbed  me  and  put  on  airs  long  enough.  My 
turn  is  coming  now.  The  wheel  goeS  up  and  the 
wheel  goes  down,  you  know.  I'm  going  up  and 
she's  going  down." 

It  did  not  take  Hanlan  long  to  come  over  to  his 
wife's  view  of  the  case.  Until  this  moment  he  had 
never  thought  of  getting  possession  of  his  old 
employer's  handsome  residence.  He  had  loaned 
him  money  upon  it  as  a  safe  investment  of  funds, 
and  would  have  loaned  him  two  thousand  dollars 
more  but  for  this  new  view  of  the  case.  Jimmy's 
wife  was  a  strong-willed  woman,  and  whenever  she 
set  herself  to  do  a  thing  generally  got  her  own  way. 
And  now  her  heart  was  set  on  being  the  possessor 
of  Mrs.  Sterling's  beautiful  home  and  seeing  that 
lady  step  down  as  she  stepped  up.  Her  whole 
being  thrilled  with  pleasure  as  she  pictured  to  her 
self  her  own  triumph  and  Mrs.  Sterling's  humili 
ation.  Pity  died  out  of  her  heart.  It  was  her  day 
now,  and  she  meant  to  carry  herself  proudly. 


CHAPTER   V. 

the  next  day  Luke  returned  home  an  hour 
before  dinner-time  with  a  look  of  trouble  on 
his  face,  and,  what  was  unusual,  he  had  not  been 
drinking.  His  wife  saw  that  something  was  wrong 
the  moment  he  entered.  In  all  these  years  of  sad 
declension  she  had  never  spoken  a  harsh  word,  and 
he  had  been  kind  and  gentle  in  his  manner  toward 
her.  Mrs.  Sterling  had  schooled  herself  to  meet 
him  always  with  as  cheerful  a  countenance  as  it  was 
possible  to  assume,  both  love  and  duty  prompting 
her  to  do  everything  in  her  power  to  make  home  a 
place  to  attract  and  not  repel. 

It  was  nearly  five  years  since  the  baleful  shadow 
of  Jimmy  Hanlan's  new  saloon  had  thrown  itself 
across  her  sunny  way.  If  we  could  pause  to  write 
her  heart's  history  for  these  years,  every  page  of  the 
record  would  be  marked  with  tear-stains ;  it  would 
fill  twice  the  space  of  this  volume,  and  make  one 
of  the  saddest  unfoldings  of  a  woman's  life-experi 
ence  it  is  possible  to  give.  No,  we  mistake ;  not  one 


74  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

of  the  saddest.  The  five  years  that  followed  took 
her  feet  down  into  deeper  waters  of  sorrow  and  hu 
miliation,  and  the  night  that  closed  around  her 
was  blacker  than  before. 

"  Are  you  sick,  Luke  ?"  Mrs.  Sterling  asked  as 
her  husband  came  in  and  she  saw  his  changed  and 
troubled  face. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "sick  at  heart." 

"What  is  it,  Luke?  Tell  me,"  she  said,  laying 
her  hand  upon  him  and  looking  into  his  face  with 
tender  anxiety. 

"I'm  in  trouble,  Polly,"  he  answered — "in 
great  trouble ;  and  I  don't  know  which  way  to  turn. 
Everything  is  going  wrong." 

"  What  kind  of  trouble,  Luke?  Explain  it  all  to 
me,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling,  with  such  a  calmness  in 
her  voice  and  manner  that  it  seemed  to  put  heart 
into  the  poor  man,  now  looking  so  broken  and 
wretched. 

"Well,  you  see,  Polly,"  Mr.  Sterling  replied, 
"  everything,  as  you  know,  has  been  going  wrong. 
Business  gets  worse  and  worse  instead  of  better.  I 
tried  to  raise  two  thousand  dollars  more  on  our 
house,  and  Hanlan  promised  me  yesterday  that  I 
should  have  it.  But  to-day  he  refuses  point  blank ; 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  75 

and  unless  I  get  that  much  money,  I  shall  have  to 
ask  an  extension  on  paper  that  falls  due  this  week. 
Then  my  credit  will  be  gone." 

"  But  can't  you  get  the  money  somewhere  else  ?" 
asked  Mrs.  Sterling. 

"  Hanlan  holds  a  first  mortgage  of  ten  thousand 
dollars,"  was  replied,  "and  no  one  will  lend  on 
the  property  with  so  large  an  encumbrance  in  the 
way.  I  tried  two  or  three  persons  this  morning; 
but  when  they  learned  of  Hanlan's  mortgage,  they 
said  no  at  once.  It's  hopeless.  I'm  tied  hand  and 
foot,  and  cannot  move  a  step." 

After  a  brief  pause,  Mr.  Sterling  continued: 
"I'm  disappointed  in  Jimmy  Hanlan.  He's  al 
ways  been  friendly,  and  always  ready  to  do  me  a 
favor  until  now.  He  seemed  never  to  forget  that  I" 
had  always  treated  him  kindly  and  helped  and  en 
couraged  him  when  he  started  in  the  world  for 
himself.  Yesterday  he  was  just  as  friendly  as  ever, 
and  almost  as  good  as  promised  me  the  money ;  but 
when  I  saw  him  this  morning,  he  was  entirely 
changed.  The  fact  is,  Polly,  he  made  me  feel 
afraid  of  him.  I  saw  something  like  an  evil  beast 
looking  out  of  his  eyes." 

Mi*.  Sterling  paused  again.     His  wife  saw  that 


76  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

something  unspoken  lay  upon  his  mind,  and  waited 
for  him  to  go  on. 

"  He's  a  worse  man  than  I  thought  him." 

"  No  man  in  his  trade  can  be  a  good  man,  Luke. 
That  is  impossible,"  said  Mrs.  Sterling. 

"  Fin  afraid  you  are  right,  Polly — afraid  you  are 
right.  It  isn't  a  good  trade,  by  any  means.  Ah  me ! 
It  was  a  dark  day  for  some  in  Delhi  when  Jimmy 
Hanlan  turned  saloon-keeper." 

Mr.  Sterling's  voice  trembled  perceptibly  and 
was  much  depressed  in  tone. 

"  Polly  dear,"  the  unhappy  man  went  on,  trying 
to  speak  more  steadily,  "  I'm  afraid  we  shall  hav£ 
to  leave  here." 

He  turned  his  eyes  from  his  wife's  face.  He 
could  not  bear  to  witness  the  shock  of  pain  that 
must  sweep  over  it.  There  was  no  reply.  Luke's 
eyes  were  on  the  floor,  and  he  could  not  perceive 
the  effect  of  his  communication. 

"  If  it  were  not  for  you  and  the  children,  Polly, 
I  wouldn't  care  so  much,"  he  added,  after  a  few 
moments,  still  not  lifting  his  eyes. 

"  Our  happiness,  Luke,  doesn't  depend  on  keep 
ing  this  house."  Mrs.  Sterling  spoke  with  a  calm 
ness  that  surprised  her  husband,  and  with  a  sweet 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  77 

patience  that  touched  his  heart  and  filled  his  eyes 
with  tears.  "Indeed,  as  things  are,  I  would  rather 
give  it  up  and  go  into  a  smaller  one.  We  can't 
afford  to  live  here  now." 

Luke  took  both  of  his  wife's  hands  and  raised 
them  to  his  lips.  They  were  damp  with  tears  and 
kisses  when  he  let  them  free. 

"  Let  us  make  a  new  start  in  "life,"  Mrs.  Sterling 
went  on,  with  a  tender  earnestness  of  manner  that 
filled  the  soul  of  her  husband  with  an  almost  wild 
desire  to  retrieve  all  he  had  lost.  "  It  is  nothing 
to  us  what  people  may  say  or  think,  but  it  is  every 
thing  to  us  what  we  are  in  ourselves.  All  this  is 
not  happiness ;"  and  she  glanced  around  the  hand 
some  room  in  which  they  were  sitting.  "  We  may 
possess  these  elegant  things  and  be  wretched,  or  we 
may  live  amidst  the  humblest  surroundings  and 
have  peace  in  our  hearts.  Oh,  Luke,  I  am  ready 
for  any  change  that  will  take  these  anxious  cares 
from  your  heart  and  give  me  back  my  husband  as 
I  once  knew  him — my  dear,  good,  noble  husband." 

She  threw  her  arms  about  his  neck  and  laid  her 
head  upon  his  breast,  her  frame  shaking  with  sobs. 

"You  shall  have  your  husband  again,  Polly 
dear,"  returned  Luke,  with  answering  sobs  and 


78  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

tears.  "  From  this  day  I  will  lead  a  new  life — I 
will  be  a  man  as  of  old,  master  of  myself.  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  save  this  place.  That  grieves  me 
most.  Oh,  it  will  be  gall  and  wormwood  to  see 
you  turned  out  and — and — " 

He  could  not  finish  the  sentence. 

"  And  what,  Luke  ?  Don't  be  troubled  about 
me;  I  could  be  happier  in  the  humblest  cottage 
with  my  dear,  good  husband  all  my  own,  and  lov 
ing  and  caring  for  me  as  of  old,  than  in  a  palace 
without  such  love  and  care.  And  what,  Luke? 
What  were  you  going  to  say  ?" 

"Polly  dear" — Sterling  drew  his  lips  together, 
while  an  indignant  expression  came  into  his  face — 
"  Hanlan  has  been  looking  with  an  evil  eye  upon 
our  beautiful  home.  He  wants  it  for  himself  and 
his  vulgar  wife.'7 

Mrs.  Sterling  caught  her  breath  and  her  face 
turned  pale.  But  she  was  herself  again  in  a  mo 
ment,  and  replied: 

"  It  will  matter  nothing  to  us  who  has  it  when  it 
passes  from  our  hands." 

"It  will  matter  a  great  deal  to  me,"  returned 
Sterling,  with  an  angry  flash  in  his  eyes. 

"  We  shall  be  so  happy,  Luke,  that  nothing  like 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  79 

this  can  possibly  disturb  our  lives.  Be  all  that  you 
once  were,  and  I  shall  care  for  nothing  else.  Let 
Hanlan  have  the  place.  Sell  it,  and  get  yourself 
free  from  embarrassment." 

"  God  bless  you,  my  dear  wife  \"  ejaculated  Ster 
ling.  "  From  this  day  I  will  be  a  new  man  for 
your  sake.  What  is  past  cannot  be  helped,  but  I 
have  all  the  future  before  me ;  I  am  yet  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  by  all  that  I  hold  dear  I  swear 
to  recover,  in  the  next  five  years,  all  that  I  have 
lost  in  the  last," 

Luke  Sterling  was  deeply  in  earnest.  The 
shock  that  came  upon  him  when  he  discovered  that 
Jimmy  Hanlan  wanted  his  handsome  residence, 
and  meant  to  have  it  by  a  foreclosure  of  the  mort 
gage  if  he  could  get  it  in  no  other  way,  roused 
him  to  a  bitter  sense  of  the  ruin  to  which  drink 
and  a  consequent  incapacity  for  business  had 
brought  him.  He  still  loved  his  wife  as  much 
as  his  diminished  capacity  for  loving  would  per 
mit,  and  the  thought  of  seeing  her  go  out  from 
her  beautiful  home  and  go  down  into  one  com 
paratively  poor  and  humble,  while  the  coarse  sa 
loon-keeper's  wife,  who  had  more  than  once  done 
service  as  a  menial  in  his  house,  passed  up  in  her 


80  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

vulgar  triumph  and  took  proud  possession  of  all 
she  had  lost,  almost  maddened  him. 

All  this  was  enough  to  arouse  any  man  not 
wholly  lost  to  a  sense  of  his  condition,  and  to 
stir  the  latent  forces  that  might  yet  remain  in 
his  soul. 

There  was  nothing  either  generous  or  just  in 
the  character  of  Hanlan.  If  there  had  once  been, 
his  new  calling  had  driven  it  all  out.  He  had 
learned  that  the  best  bargains  are  always  made  in 
dealing  with  the  unfortunate,  or  wTith  men  in 
some  ruinous  strait.  Sterling  was  now  in  pressing 
need  of  money — must  have  it,  or  run  the  risk  of 
failing  in  business.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to 
raise  anything  more  on  his  house  unless  Hanlan 
chose  to  make  a  further  loan  and  take  a  new  mort 
gage,  which  he  could  easily  and  safely  do.  But 
since  that  little  talk  with  his  wife,  Hanlan  had 
changed  his  views  of  the  affair;  and  when  Ster 
ling  called  to  get  his  answer  about  an  additional 
loan  of  two  thousand  dollars,  he  met,  instead  of 
a  compliant  friend,  as  he  had  thought  Hanlan,  a 
hard  and  grasping  absorber  of  whatever  might 
come  in  'his  way. 

"  I've  no  more  money  to  lend !"  met  the  ex- 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  81 

pectant  merchant  when  he  called  that  morning, 
spoken  with  a  cold  repulsion  that  chilled  him. 

"  Oh,  very  well ;"  and  Sterling  was  turning  away 
hurt  and  surprised  by  Hanlan's  unexpected  rebuff. 

"  See  here,  Sterling !"  called  Hanlan,  when  his 
visitor  had  gone  a  few  paces. 

"Sterling;"  The  "Mr."  was  dropped  now. 
There  was  a  time  when  Jimmy  Hanlan  had  said, 
"  Y'r  honor,  sir."  And  the  respectful  "Mr."  had 
never  before  this  time  been  omitted  when  address 
ing  his  old  employer. 

The  unhappy  man  turned  and  came  back.  He 
felt  the  intended  disrespect,  not  to  say  insolence. 

"  Look  here,  my  friend,"  said  Hanlan,  knitting 
his  brows  and  shutting  his  coarse  mouth.  "  I  want 
to  say  a  word  to  you."  * 

"  Say  on,"  was  returned. 

"  I  shall  want  the  money  on  that  mortgage  next 
week.  I  am  going  to  buy  a  piece  of  property." 

"What  property?"  asked  Sterling,  almost  me 
chanically. 

"That's  my  own  affair,"  replied  Hanlan,  with 
offensive  rudeness, 

"You  might  at  least  be  civil  about  it/'  said 
Sterling,  stung  by  the  man's  insolence. 


82  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

"Civil  or  not,  I  shall  want  that  money  next 
week.  So  make  your  arrangements  to  get  it  if 
you  don't  want  trouble." 

"But  you  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  it  is  im 
possible  for  me  to  raise  ten  thousand  dollars  at  a 
week's  notice." 

"That's  your  affair,  not  mine,"  was  the  gruff 
retort. 

Luke  Sterling,  who  saw  now  for  the  first  time 
the  unpitying  wolf  in  this  man's  eyes,  and  felt 
that  he  had  nothing  to  hope  from  him,  turned 
away  again,  and  was  near  the  door  when  Han- 
Ian  called  him  back  and  said,  with  the  air  of  a 
superior, 

"  If  you'll  take  my  advice,  you'll  sell  your  hpuse 
instead  of  trying  to  borrow  money  on  it  and  sad 
dling  yourself  with  more  interest.  You  can't  afford 
to  live  there,  anyhow.  Sell  it  and  put  the  money 
into  your  business.  Then  you'll  be  doing  the  sensi 
ble  thing."  . 

"Thank  you,"  returned  Sterling,  in  a  husky 
voice,  while  a  deep  pallor  overspread  his  face. 

"  No  thanks,  my  friend,"  said  Hanlan,  in  a  light, 
unfeeling  tone.  "  If  it  does  you  any  good,  I  shall 
be  satisfied.  Sell,  and  do  the  sensible  thing.  Un- 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  83 

load  while  you  can.  That's  my  advice,  and  I  won't 
charge  you  a  cent  for  it,  ha  I  ha  1" 

And  he  laughed  coarsely. 

"  One  word  more,"  he  called  after  Sterling,  who 
made  a  third  movement  to  retire.  "  Let  me  hear 
from  you  soon;  and  if  you  don't  meet  with  a 
purchaser,  give  me  your  best  terms,  and  perhaps  I 
can  find  you  one." 

Luke  Sterling  understood  him  now.  He  made 
no  response,  but  went  out,  dazed.  Almost  for  the 
first  time  in  five  years  he  had  been  in  the  bar-room 
of  the  "  Hanlan  House"  without  calling  for  liquor. 
He  was  too  stunned  and  bewildered  for  business, 
and  so,  after  a  feeble  effort  to  look  over  his  accounts 
and  see  if  he  could  find  in  them  anything  on  which 
to  rest  a  hope  of  extrication  from  imminent  peril? 
he  went  home,  as  we  have  seen. 

All  this,  as  has  been  said,  was  enough  to  arouse 
any  man  not  wholly  lost  to  a  sense  of  his  condi 
tion,  and  to  stir  the  latent  forces  that  might  yet 
remain  in  his  soul.  And  Luke  Sterling  was  now 
thoroughly  aroused.  His  first  effort  was  to  sell  his 
house  to  some  one  into  whose  possession  he  would 
rather  see  it  pass  than  into  that  of  the  saloon 
keeper.  But  those  who  felt  themselves  able  to  live 


84  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

in  so  handsome  a  house  were  already  suited  to  their 
Pastes.  And,  moreover,  he  was  not  the  only  well- 
to-do  citizen  of  Delhi  whose  circumstances  had 
changed  in  the  last  few  years.  His  neighbor  Gor 
don's  house,  almost  as  fine  as  his  own,  was  up  for 
sale,  and  so  was  the  house  of  Judge  Hanson.  When 
the  new  saloon  was  opened,  five  years  before,  with 
its  new  attractions  and  fine  £clat,  Judge  Hanson 
was  known  as  a  free  liver  and  one  who  enjoyed  his 
glass  of  wine.  But  no  one  had  ever  seen  him  the 
"  worse  for  liquor,"  as  it  is  said,  and  he  was  rarely 
to  be  found  drinking  in  any  public  place.  But  the 
enticements  of  the  "Hanlan  House"  had  been. too 
much  for  him.  No  sooner  were  its  doors  opened 
than  there  seemed  to  set  toward  it  an  almost  irre 
sistible  current,  drawing  thitherward  judges,  lawyers, 
merchants,  politicians  and  men  of  leisure.  Good 
society  was  to  be  found  there  as  well  as  good  things 
to  eat  and  drink.  Men  who  did  not  care  for  liquor 
drifted  there  by  the  desire  to  meet  friends  and  pass 
a  pleasant,  social  evening. 

And  so  Judge  Hanson,  the  good  liver  and  mod 
erate  drinker,  found  the  temptations  of  this  new 
saloon  too  great,  and  himself,  at  the  end  of  five 
years,  so  much  reduced  in  circumstances  as  to  be 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  85 

compelled  to  sell  the  house  of  his  wife  and  children 
and  gather  them  in  sorrow  and  humiliation  into 
an  humbler  abode.  And  a  like  thing  happened 
with  Frank  Gordon,  one  of  the  best  lawyers  in 
the  county,  as  well  as  with  others  who  might  be 
named. 

Sterling  could  find  no  one  who  wanted  to  buy 
his  house.  After  three  days,  during  which  time  he 
wholly  abstained  from  drink,  he  called  upon  Han- 
Ian  and  offered  to  sell  the  property,  fixing  the  price 
at  sixteen  thousand  dollars.  Jimmy  scouted  at  this 
valuation  as  preposterous,  and  said  that  he  would 
not  give  a  dollar  over  twelve  thousand  for  it,  but 
finally  advanced  to  twelve  thousand  five  hundred, 
beyond  which  he  would  not  go.  As  Sterling  was 
in  a  strait  and  had  made  up  his  mind  to  sell,  the 
bargain  was  finally  closed  at  the  last-named  figures, 
and  as  soon  afterward  as  it  could  possibly  be  done 
he  moved  into  a  small  house. 

While  negotiations  for  this  sale  were  in  progress, 
Mrs.  Hanlan,  richly  dressed  and  radiant  with 
jewelry,  came  every  day  in  her  carriage  to  look 
over  the  house  and  through  the  grounds,  assuming 
a  vulgar  dignity  and  a  half-patronizing  air  toward 
Mrs.  Sterling  that,  under  other  circumstances,  might 


86  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

have  been  amusing,  but  which,  taking  things  as 
they  were,  hurt  and  humiliated  the  suffering  woman. 

It  did  not  take  long  to  make  the  change.  A 
portion  of  the  furniture  was  sold,  and  with  the  rest 
they  fitted  up  a  new  and  humbler  home,  in  which 
for  a  brief  period  they  were  happier  than  they  had 
been  for  years. 

Ah  !  that  we  have  to  say,  "  for  a  brief  period  " ! 
Mr.  Sterling  was  deeply  in  earnest.  He  had  sol 
emnly  resolved  never  to  debase  himself  with  drink. 
It  had  been  his  master  and  his  curse,  hurting  and 
degrading  him,  and  filling  the  heart  of  one  he  loved 
with  deepest  sorrow.  "  It  shall  be  so  no  more," 
he  had  said,  in  the  bitterness  of  his  suffering  and 
repentance.  But  like  so  many  hundreds  and  thou 
sands  in  like  condition,  he  did  not  comprehend  the 
absolute  necessity  of  denying  to  his  vitiated  appe 
tite  the  stimulant  that  is  sure  to  arouse  it  into  an 
uncontrollable  desire.  He  meant  to  be  a  self- 
poised  man  again,  and  to  hold  his  appetite,  as  in 
earlier  years,  under  absolute  control.  The  lesson 
he  had  received  was  enough,  he  thought.  His 
humble  home,  his  patient,  cheerful  and  now  happy 
wife,  his  little  children  growing  up  around  him, 
the  new  aspect  his  business  was  assuming  under  the 


4 

WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  87 

new  and  more^  intelligent  devotion  he  gave  to  it, 
were  all  so  many  aids  and  incentives  to  a  new  life. 

For  weeks,  even  months,  Mr.  Sterling  kept  his 
appetite  under  with  bit  and  bridle.  How  happy 
they  were  at  home !  All  his  friends  took  heart 
again,  and  saw  with  pleasure  the  great  change  and 
new  promise  for  a  better  life.  But  he  was  walking 
amid  temptations  of  no  ordinary  character.  He 
was  surrounded  by  enemies  who  never  slept,  who 
were  always  plotting  against  him ;  and  what  made 
his  condition  the  more  perilous  was  the  fact  that  he 
did  not  treat  these  enemies  as  if  they  were  his 
deadly  foes,  but  too  often  held  friendly  intercourse 
with  them  and  lefi^  in  their  presence  the  doors  of 
his  citadel  of  strength  unbarred. 

Only  for  a  short  time  did  Luke  Sterling  wholly 
deny  his  appetite,  and  daily  during  that  period  did 
he  receive  invitations  to  drink  from  thoughtless 
friends  and  acquaintances.  The  arching  eyebrows, 
the  shade  of  surprise  or  the  light,  bantering  sen 
tences  that  were  almost  sure  to  meet  him  on  de 
clining  these  invitations  annoyed  him  greatly.  He 
regarded  them  as  reflections  on  his  manhood.  He 
felt  very  strong,  was  sure  of  himself,  knew  that 
he  could  hold  his  appetite  in  check  as  completely 


I 

88  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

as  he  had  been  able  to  do  beforeUhe  days  of  his 
unhappy  enslavement.  His  eyes  were  open  now, 
and  he  knew  the  danger  of  over-indulgence.  The 
sad  lessons  of  the  past  five  years  were  too  deeply 
graven  upon  his  heart  and  their  memory  too  full 
of  pain  and  humiliation  to  be  forgotten.  No,  there 
was  little  danger  of  another  fall ;  he  could  drink  in 
moderation,  be  social  with  his  friends,  as  before, 
instead  of  holding  himself  aloof,  to  be  sneered  at 
as  a  weakling  who  dared  not  trust  himself. 

So  he  be^gan  again  to  drink  in  moderation,  but 
being  on  guard,  held  himself  to  certain  prescribed 
limits.  But  it  was  not  possible  to  keep  for  any 
length  of  time  within  any  limifcs  he  might  set  for 
himself.  He  was  indulging  a  fatal  error.  He 
could  not  drink  or  let  it  alone  at  will,  as  in  his 
earlier  manhood.  Appetite  and  will  were  now  at 
variance  with  each  other,  and  appetite  had  become 
stronger  than  will.  There  was  safety  only  in  hold 
ing  appetite  bound.  Give  it  the  smallest  liberty, 
and  it  would  begin  to  gather  up  its  strength  in 
preparation  for  an  early  struggle  to  gain  the 
mastery. 

Only  a  few  weeks  went  by  ere  Mr.  Sterling's 
daily  visits  to  the  "Hanlan  House"  were  resumed, 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  89 

though  his  relations  with  the  proprietor  never  again 
partook  of  their  old  friendly  character.  In  less 
than  three  months  he  was  drinking* again  almost  as 
hard  as  before,  and  the  hope  which  had  for  a  little 
while  so  brightened  the  life  of  Mrs.  Sterling,  giving 
her  poor  surroundings  a  richer  gilding  than  her 
costliest  things  had  ever  known,  lying  cold  and 
almost  lifeless  in  her  heart. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

five  years  that  succeeded  were  full  of  sor- 
-*-  row,  not  for  the  wife  of  Luke  Sterling  alone, 
but  for  the  wives  and  mothers  of  hundreds  of  men 
and  boys  in  Delhi.  Few  homes  in  the  town  were 
free  from  the  blight  and  curse  of  intemperance. 
No  mother  felt  safe  for  her  son,  and  few  were 
the  wives  that  did  not  tremble  for  their  husbands, 
seeing,  as  they  did,  so  many  of  the  best  men  in 
the  place  falling  one  after  another  the  victims  of 
drink. 

A  second  addition  had  been  made  to  the  poor- 
house,  and  the  foundations  of*  a  new  jail  that  was  to 
cost  the  county  over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
were  being  laid.  This  new  jail  was  to  have  all 
the  modern  safeguards  and  sanitary  arrangements 
known  in  the  best  prison  architecture.  The  public- 
spirited  men  who  had  the  business, of  its  construc 
tion  in  hand  determined  that  it  should  be  a  credit 
to  the  county  and  an  ornament  to  the  town.  They 
exhibited  the  plans,  all  beautifully  drawn  out  by 

90 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  91 

the  architect,  and  expatiated  with  pride  upon  the 
admirable  design  they  had  adopted.  If  they  had 
been  engaged  in  the  erection  of  a  college  building, 
they  could  not  have  shown  greater  pleasure  in  their 
work. 

All  the  dreadful  meaning  of  what  they  were  do 
ing  seemed  to  be  far  away  from  these  men ;  or  if  it 
forced  itself  at  times  upon  their  consideration,  it 
never  seemed  to  occur  to  them  that  it  would  be  a 
far  better  and  cheaper  thing  to  stop  the  creation  of 
criminals  than  to  spend  vast  sums  of  money  for 
prisons  in  which  to  confine  them. 

"  These  saloons  are  the  curse  of  our  town,"  you 
would  hear  on  all  sides.  "  Our  young  men  are  go 
ing  to  destruction."  But  no  common  cause  was 
made  against  them.  Every  month  or  two  the  gate 
of  a  new  road  to  destruction  would  be  opened  and 
crowds  go  pressing  in,  but  the  people  of  Delhi  only 
sighed  and  submitted.  There  was  found  no  man 
of  strength  and  influence  courageous  enough  to  lift 
a  standard  and  call  for  an  army  to  set  itself  in  bat 
tle  array  against  an  enemy  that  was  ravaging  the 
town,  and  with  a  devastation  worse  than  fire  and 
sword. 

A  handful  of  banditti  held  Delhi  in  its  grasp,  drew 


92  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

from  it  a  daily  tribute  of  not  less  than  one  or  two 
thousand  dollars^  and  bound  its  young  men  and  its 
men  of  strength  in  fetters  more  g  lling  than  fetters 
of  brass  or  iron,  and  with  a  strange,  cowardly,  hu 
miliating  indifference  Delhi  submitted  to  this  ac 
cursed  domination,  and  made  no  effort  to  throw  it 
off. 

Suffering  and  heart-breaking  women,  on  whom 
the  curse  of  this  banditti  rule  fell  heaviest,  lifted 
their  hands,  imploring  fathers  and  husbands  and 
sons  to  rise  in  their  strength  and  drive  the  plun 
derers  from  their  midst,  but  their  appeals  fell  heed 
less  upon  the  air.  Day  by  day  they  saw  their  be 
loved  ones — the  husbands  who  were  dear  to  them 
as  life,  the  boys  they  had  nurtured  and  cared  for  and 
led  up  toward  useful  manhood,  the  boys  they  had 
watched  over  with  the  tenderest  solicitude  and  held 
up  to  God  in  daily  prayers — saw  them  drifting  out 
upon  a  sea  of  fire,  while  they  stood  upon  the  shore 
powerless  to  save.  No  wonder  they  grew  desperate 
sometimes.  No  wonder  half  a  dozen  women,  roused 
to  desperation,  should  on  one  memorable  occasion 
break  through  the  bounds  of  "  propriety  and  social 
order,"  and  commit  a  most  dreadful  and  indecent 
outrage,  at  which  all  Delhi  was  shocked,  going  so 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  93 

far  as  to  enter  the  bar  of  a  "  quiet  and  respectable 
saloon-keeper  "  and  turn  his  liquor  into  the  street. 

But  for  this  great  outrage  their  husbands  and 
fathers  had  to  pay  dearly.  Suit  was  brought  against 
them  for  damages  in  three  times  the  amount  at 
which  the  destroyed  beer  and  whisky  was  valued, 
and  a  jury  of  citizens  on  which  the  saloon-keeper's 
lawyer  managed  to  get  a  goodly  number  of  his 
friends  gave  a  verdict  against  them. 

"  A  wholesome  lesson,"  remarked  the  editor  of 
the  Delhi  Eagle,  in  commenting  on  the  result  of 
this  trial,  "  and  one  that  will  teach  these  excitable 
females  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  law  and  order 
in  Delhi." 

This  Delhi  Eagle  was  on  all  social  questions 
exceedingly  conservative.  The  mouthpiece  of  one 
of  the  political  parties — it  matters  not  which — it 
was  especially  conservative  in  regard  to  temperance. 
It  believed  in  temperance  in  all  things — temper 
ance  in  eating  as  well  as  in  drinking,  temperance 
in  speech  and  deportment,  in  morals  and  in  re 
ligion.  "You  can't  call  a  man  temperate,"  said 
the  Eagle,  "  who  abstains  from  beer  or  whisky  and 
makes  a  beast  of  himself  at  the  table,  or  who  gets 
up  and  makes  an  intemperate  speech  against  men 


94  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

engaged  in  a  legal  and  legitimate  calling.  The 
women  who  committed  the  gross  outrage  at  Mc 
Caffrey's  saloon  were  as  drunk  in  their  way  as  any 
rowdying  loafer  on  the  street." 

All  the  saloon-keepers  were  jubilant  over  the 
finding  of  the  jury,  and  for  a  week  after  the  pub 
lication  day  of  the  Eagle,  the  editor,  who  had  so 
nobly  stood  up  for  law  and  order  and  the  rights  of 
the  people  as  against  fanatics  and  their  projected 
outrages,  could  drink  at  any  bar  in  Delhi  free  of 
cost.  And  well  did  they  understand  the  value  of 
a  friend  like  the  editor  of  the  Eagle — a  maker  and 
controller  of  public  sentiment.  Had  he  taken  the 
women's  side,  and  even  partially  justified  their  con 
duct  on  the  ground  that  the  evils  under  which  they 
were  suffering  were  of  such  magnitude  and  dire 
malignity  that  they  could  no  longer  be  endured, 
and  that,  despairing  of  any  hope  in  legislation  and 
law,  they  had  risen  against  an  enemy  that  was 
destroying  their  sons  and  brothers  and  husbands, 
and  fought  him  in  wild  desperation  with  the  only 
weapons  they  could  command, — had  the  Eagle  done 
this,  the  saloon-keepers  of  Delhi  might  have  had  a 
hard  time  of  it,  and  Hugh  McCaffrey  not  been  the 
only  one  whose  beer  and  whisky  found  a  summary 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  95 

transfer  from  the  shelves  inside  to  the  gutter  on  the 
outside. 

The  editor  of  the  Eagle  knew  the  value  of 
whisky  and  drinking  saloons.  They  were  valu 
able,  almost  indispensable,  agencies  in  a  political 
campaign.  They  made  in  every  community  a  little 
•army  of  idlers  who  were  always  ready  for  some 
thing  that  would  pay  them  better  than  work,  or, 
if  not  better,  for  a  smaller  outlay  of  time  and  effort. 
Then  the  taverns  and  drinking  saloons  formed  the 
headquarters  of  politicians,  and  were  the  places 
where  "slates"  were  made  up  and  "rings"  formed, 
and  all  the  machinery  forged  and  set  in  motion  by 
which  easy-going  citizens  were  led  to  vote  for  this 
man  or  that,  just  as  these  "ring"  politicians  might 
determine.  It  will  be  seen  from  this  why  the  editor 
of  the  Eagle  was  against  the  heart-breaking  women, 
and  advised  them  to  stay  at  home  and  make  things 
more  comfortable  there  for  their  sons  and  husbands 

s 

if  they  wished  to  keep  them  awajf  from  taverns. 

And  so  the  affair  came  to  be  laughed  over  as  a 
good  joke,  McCaffrey  declaring  that  his  custom  had 
doubled  since  the  raid,  and  that  he  only  wished  the 
women  would  make  him  another  call. 

Year  by  year  the  wretched  wives  and  mothers 


96  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

of.  Delhi  stood  helpless  while  this  terrible  work 
went  on.  They  saw  their  boys  grow  up  toward 
manhood  with  fear  and  trembling,  too  often,  alas ! 
to  join  the  fast-swelling  numbers  of  the  idle  and 
dissolute.  Fathers  who  clearly  comprehended  the 
situation,  and  had  the  nerve  to  act  and  the  means 
to  do  what  they  saw  best,  sent  their  sons  to  some 
of  the  larger  cities,  as  safer  places  than  a  country 
town  of  four  or  five  thousand  inhabitants,  there  to 
study  for  a  profession  or  enter  stores  to  learn  the 
business  of  merchandising.  But  those  who  'were 
not  able  to  do  this  had  to  take  the  dangerous 
chances  of  bringing  up  their  boys  at  home. 

From  his  second  fall  Luke  Sterling  did  not  arise 
strong  and  in  his  right  mind  again.  He  made,  it 
is  true,  in  some  of  the  sad  crises  that  came  as  his 
feet  went  steadily  down,  down,  from  ease  and  com 
fort  to  want  and  painful  destitution — nay,  worse,  to 
utter  abandonment  of  himself  to  the  vice  of  drink 
ing — many  efforts  to  recover  himself.  But  they 
were  only  short-lived  and  feebler  at  each  renewal 
of  the  struggle.  Temptation  met  him,  turn  which 
way  he  would.  Delhi  had  become  a  vast  saloon 
the  many  doors  of  which  stood  open  everywhere — 
in  the  broad  and  busy  streets  and  in  little  alleys  and 


WOMAN  TO  THE  EESCUE.  97 

out-of-the-way  places,  to  which  boys  and  others 
wishing  to  avoid  observation  could  go  and  get 
liquor. 

Death  came  twice,  during  these  five  years,  into 
the  sorrowful  home  of  Luke  Sterling,  and  at  one 
of  these  visits  bore  away  his  oldest  daughter,  who 
was  just  entering  her  fifteenth  year.  When  the 
pale-faced  mother  bent  down  and  kissed,  in  her 
coffin,  the  cold  lips  of  her  dead  child,  there  were  no 
tears  in  her  eyes,  but  in  her  heart  and  on  her  lips, 
in  silent  utterance,  was  a  fervent  "  Thank  God !" 

For  what  ?  That  her  beautiful  and  her  beloved 
was  with  the  angels  and  beyond  the  evil  of  this 
world,  which  lay  with  such  a  crushing  weight  upon 
her.  Lovingly  had  this  child  stood  by  her  mother, 
helping  her  amid  her  hard  duties  and  sharing  the 
griefs  and  pains  with  which  drunkenness  had  bur 
dened  her  life.  But  she  was  gone  now,  and  the 
mother  was  in  her  sorrow  and  weakness  alone — 
alone,  yet  in  love  thanking  God. 

.Does  the  meaning  of  all  this  enter  your  heart, 
reader?  Can  you  put  yourself  in  that  mother's 
place  and  understand  something  of  the  ordeal 
through  which  she  had  passed — something  of  the 
anguish  of  self-sacrificing  love  that  wrung  her  heart 


98  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

as  she  bowed  over  the  coffin  of  this  child,  and  said, 
"  Thank  God  "  ?  Can  you  do  this  in  anything  like 
a  remote  conception  of  the  bitter  truth,  and  not, 
from  the  moment  of  such  a  realization,  set  yourself, 
with  all  the  influence  you  possess,  against  a  traffic 
that  brings  to  the  innocent  and  the  helpless  such 
woe  and  desolation  ? 

When  death  came  a  second  time,  the  veiled  angel 
lifted  tenderly  from  the  mother's  wasted  bosom  a 
babe  not  six  months  old  and  bore  it  lovingly  to 
heaven.  The  soft  white  garments  that  wrapped  the 
waxen  effigy  the  spirit  had  left  behind  and  the  little 
coffin  that  garnered  up  the  precious  clay  were  given 
in  charity  by  pitying  friends  and  neighbors ;  and 
among  those  who  contributed  for  the  purpose  was 
Mrs.  James  Han  Ian,  who  kindly  sent  her  carriage 
to  be  used  at  the  funeral.  It  may  be  said  of  her 
that  long  before  this,  wounded  pride  and  vulgar 
animosity  had  died  out  of  her  feelings,  so  far  as 
Mrs.  Sterling  was  concerned,  for  the  wretched 
drunkard's  wife  had  fallen  so  low  in  the  social 
scale  that  she  was  now  an  object  of  even  this 
woman's  commiseration. 

Two  children  remained,  George,  who  was  six 
teen  years  old  at  the  time  this  story  opened,  and 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  99 

Alice,  in  her  tenth  year.  Sterling  had  kept  on  in 
his  downward  course  until  he  was  a  useless  cum- 
berer  of  the  ground,  wholly  dependent  on  the  labor 
of  his  wife.  Her  only  resource,  was  her  needle,  and 
with  this  she  fought  for  bread,  how  desperately 
her  worn  and  wasted  form  too  painfully  told.  A 
year  before  this  time  George  had  to  be  taken  from 
school  and  put  to  work  that  he  might  earn  some 
thing.  The  only  place  his  mother  could  find  for 
him  was  in  a  large  machine-shop  situated  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  from  Delhi.  It  was  too  far  away 
for  him  to  live  at  home,  and  in  consequence  of  this 
he  had  to  board  at  Salter's,  as  the  shops  and  village 
that  had  grown  up  around  them  were  called.  The 
owners  of  these  shops,  who  had  a  large  number  of 
boys  in  their  employment,  boarded  them  as  cheaply 
as  possible,  and  without  any  care  for  the  associations 
into  which  they  might  be  thrown.  A  worse  school 
for  lads  could  hardly  be  found  than  were  these 
shops  and  cheap  boarding-places,  and  their  bad 
influence  upon  George  Sterling  was  soon  apparent 
to  the  eyes  of  his  mother.  Thus  a  new  and  heavy 
weight  of  anxiety  and  fear  was  laid  upon  her 
heart. 

Crushed  and  helpless,  she  was  now  almost  in  de- 


100  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

spair ;  for  as  mothers  will  whose  earthly  supports 
have  failed,  and  who  feel  themselves  growing  weaker 
and  weaker  every  day,  and  less  able  to  stand  up  in 
their  life-battle,  she  had  begun  to  look  hopefully 
forward  to  the  time  when  her  boy  should  put  on 
the  strength  of  manhood  and  lovingly  unclasp  the 
heavy  armor  she  had  borne,  and  take  the  weapons 
of  warfare  from  her  weak  and  failing  hands.  Alas 
for  'this  fond  hope !  Its  uplifting  wings  were  droop 
ing  already.  In  all  these  years  of  suffering  and 
privation  no  one  had  ever  heard  Mrs.  Sterling 
utter  a  word  against  her  husband,  and  she  had 
never  upbraided  him,  nor  met  him  on  his  coming 
home  with  sour  or  angry  looks.  It  was  not  in  her 
loving  nature  to  be  hard  or  harsh,  and  no  change 
in  her  husband,  unless  it  had  been  of  a  very  differ 
ent  character  from  that  which  intemperance  had 
wrought,  bad  as  that  was,  could  have  turned  her 
heart  against  him.  She  loved  him  for  what  he  had 
been  to  her,  for  the  better  self  she  still  believed  in, 
though  hidden  out  of  sight,  and  for  the  resurrec 
tion  of  which  she  still  hoped  and  prayed,  but  with  a 
weaker  faith  and  feebler  utterance  as  the  years  went 
by  and  she  saw  him  sink  lower  and  lower.  As  for 
Sterling,  it  must  be  said  of  him  that  no  degree  of 


WOMAN  TO    THE  REStiVE^    V          lOl 


intoxication  ever  made  him, rpugh'Or; cross  iQxa;rel;  ;  +*\ 
his  wife,  and  few  weeks  went  by  that  he  did  not 
deplore  his  condition  and  his  slavery,  and  promise 
her  that  he  would  amend.  But  resolutions  of 
amendment,  no  matter  how  sincerely  made,  had 
become  as  flax  in  the  flame  to  him.  The  power 
of  self-control  under  temptation  was  gone,  and  in 
Delhi  temptation  reached  out  its  hands  for  men  like 
him  at  every  corner  rand  in  every  street  and  alley, 
and  made  reform  impossible.  He  could  not  leave 
his  house  and  go  for  the  distance  of  a  single  block 
and  not  be  enticed.  Without  other  help  than  his 
own  enfeebled  will,  the  case  of  Sterling  was  hope 
less. 

Faithful  to  all  the  needs  of  her  husband  so  far 
as  lay  in  her  power,  Mrs.  Sterling  continued  now 
as  at  the  beginning.  If  he  were  not  in  by  nine  or 
ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  she  went  in  search  of 
him  and  brought  him  home.  Many  were  the  coarse 
jests  she  had  to  encounter,  and  many  the  angry 
scowls  and  threatening  words  she  received  from 
saloon-keepers  who  did  not  like  her  visits.  But  noth 
ing  of  this  deterred  her.  Faithful  to  what  she  be 
lieved  to  be  her  duty,  and  faithful  to  the  love  that 
could  not  die,,  she  went  her  almost  nightly  circuit 


102      ^        ^Tfr&MAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 


of  tii^^loqnp^&nd  ^h^n  she  found  her  husband,  it 
was  often  noticed  that  her  wan  face  brightened  a 
little,  and  that  her  eyes  had  a  look  of  pitying  ten 
derness  in  them  as  they  rested  upon  the  one  she 
sought. 

Thus  it  was  with  Luke  Sterling  and  his  family 
at  the  end  of  ten  years  from  the  time  Jimmy  Han- 
Ian  opened  his  saloon.  How  it  fared  with  many 
other  families,  happy  and  prosperous  as  this  one,  it 
would  take  volumes  to  tell,  and  the  histories  would 
be  so  sad  and  sorrowful  that  none  would  be  able 
to  read  them  without  tears.  Among  the  almost 
heart-broken  mothers  of  Delhi  was  good  Sister 
Rhoda  Green,  that  saint  in  Israel  whom  all  re 
vered  and  loved.  Her  boy,  whom  in  prayer  she 
had  consecrated  to  the  service  of  God  while  yet 
an  infant  in  his  cradle,  had  gone  far  astray,  con 
sorting  with  the  evil  men  who  infested  the  town 
and  crowded  its  many  bar-rooms — horse-jockeys, 
gamblers,  Sabbath-breakers  and  a  miserable  crew 
of  pot-house  politicians  and  adventurers.  Tippling 
had  grown  upon  him.  His  head  was  not  very 
strong.  In  a  few  years  he  had  lost  control  of 
himself,  and  was  now  going  the  drunkard's  down 
ward  road. 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  103 

Frank  Gordon,  the  lawyer,  was  almost  as  far 
down  as  Luke  Sterling,  and  his  wife  bowed  and 
broken,  though  not  bearing  with  the  same  loving 
patience  the  miseries  of  her  lot. 

A  strong,  true  man  in  Delhi,  and  -faithful  to  his 
high  and  sacred  calling,  was  the  Rev.  Jason  Wilder. 
He  was  tender  as  well  as  true  and  strong;  and 
while  he  rebuked  the  evil-doer  and  denounced  in 
iquities  of  all  kind,  often  with  a  fiery  indignation 
that  stirred  the  hearts  of  his  hearers  like  the  sound 
of  a  trumpet  calling  to  battle,  his  ministrations  to 
the  penitent,  the  sick,  the  sorrowing  and  the  be 
reaved  were  so  sweet  and  gentle  and  full  of  true 
Christian  sympathy  that  all  who  knew  him  in  his 
offices  of  teacher,  comforter  and  friend  esteemed 
and  loved  him. 

He,  too,  was  a  sufferer  from  the  curse  which  lay 
upon  their  town.  The  son  of  his  hopes  and  prayers 
had  been  hurt  by  the  same  poisoned  arrow  that  was 
striking  down  and  destroying  the  best  and  most 
promising  young  men  of  the  place;  and  only  a 
month  before  this  time  the  tearful  face  of  this  son's 
wife — the  bride  of  a  year — hr.d  been  laid  .in  agony 
upon  his  bosom,  and  he  could  offer  her  no  com 
fort — could  only  pray  in  broken  sentences,  as  he 


104  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

drew  her  tightly  to  his  heart,  that  God  would 
temper  the  wind  to  his  shorn  lamb. 

And  for  all  this  the  stream  of  cursing  flowed  on, 
full  to  its  parched  and  desolate  margins.  A  few 
men  without  pity  and  without  conscience,  having 
the  fear  neither  of  man  nor  God  before  their  eyes, 
held  the  town  in  their  hands  and  subsidized  it  to 
their  interests,  caring  not  who  or  what  was  lost, 
so  that  they  made  gain  of  the  people.  From  the 
costliest  dwelling  down  to  the  meanest  hovel  in 
the  town  women's  hearts  were  breaking.  The  poor 
had  greater  suffering  than  the  rich,  for  they  came 
in  closer  and  harder  contact  with  coarse  and  brutal 
men  too  often  transformed  by  drinking  into  cruel 
fiends.  With  none  to  pity  and  none  to  help,  they 
drank  the  cup  of  bitterness  to  the  very  dregs.  Not 
alone  did  they  suffer  from  hunger  and  cold,  from 
sorrow  and  shame,  from  want  and  disease.  The 
curse  of  drink  lay  heavier  than  this  upon  too  many 
of  these  unhappy  women.  Personal  violence  was 
added.  Wives  were  beaten  or  knocked  down  by 
fists  or  cut  with  knives,  maimed  often  for  life. 
Little  children  were  terribly  abused,  and  even  tender 
babes  cruelly  hurt  in  their  mothers'  arms. 

Thus  it  was  in   Delhi  at  the  time   our  story 


•      WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  105 

opened,  and  there  was  not  a  man  of  controlling 
influence  in  the  place  who  had  any  serious  thought 
of  attempting  a  radical  change  in  the  state  of  affairs, 
or  who  believed  it  possible  to  free  the  town  from 
the  curse  of  drink. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A  ND  now  we  take  up  the  thread  of  the  story, 
dropped  at  the  close  of  the  first  chapter. 

As  Mrs.  Sterling  passed  into  the  street  the  wind 
struck  her  in  the  face,  taking  away  her  breath, 
but  she  quickly  recovered  herself,  and  drawing  her 
thin  cloak  about  her,  went  forward  with  rapid  steps 
almost  in  the  teeth  of  the  sleety  rain  that  was  still 
falling  heavily.  A  few  minutes'  walk  brought  her 
to  a  saloon  that  was  one  of  the  resorts  of  her  hus 
band.  Quietly  pushing  open  the  door,  she  stepped 
inside,  and  stood  for  a  moment  looking  around  the 
bar-room.  Not  seeing  the  object  of  her  search,  she 
retired  without  speaking. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?"  asked  a  man,  addressing 
the  saloon-keeper,  who  stood  leaning  against  the  bar 
talking  with  a  customer.  "  You  looked  scared  when 
Luke  Sterling's  wife  came  in." 

"  Did  I  ?  Well,  I  had  a  sort  of  nervous  shock 
when  I  saw  her  petticoats  drive  in  through  the 

106 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  107 

door.  I  thought  it  might  be  one  of  the  praying 
women  I  was  reading  about  to-day." 

"  Ho !  ho !  that  is  rich !"  ejaculated  the  other, 
much  amused.  "You  don't  expect  to  have  them 
here,  do  you  ?" 

"  What's  to  hinder  ?  The  thing  is  spreading  like 
fire  in  a  prairie,  and  a  spark  is  as  likely  to  fall  upon 
Delhi  as  anywhere  else." 

"  That's  so.  Well,  suppose  it  breaks  out  here ; 
what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?" 

"Can't  say.  But  I'm  afraid  I  shall  be  like 
Davy  Crockett's  squirrel  when  the  old  hunter  raised 
his  rifle." 

"How  was  that?" 

"He  cried  out,  ' There,  there,  colonel!  don't 
fire !  I'll  come  down  !'  " 

"  The  white  feather,  ha !  Well,  I  wouldn't  have 
believed  that  of  you,  Mark  Schroder.  I  thought 
there  was  a  deal  more  grit  in  you." 

"  I'm  gritty  enough  in  a  fair  fight  and  with 
men,"  replied  Schroder,  as  he  was  called,  "but  I 
can't  fight  with  women." 

"  Pshaw !  If  a  woman  tried  to  knock  you  in  the 
head,  wouldn't  you  defend  yourself?" 

"Yes." 


108  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"Very  well." 

"  But  I  wouldn't  take  a  stand-up  fight  with  a 
woman,  no  "how.  Fd  run  first." 

At  this  a  loud  laugh  went  through  the  bar-room. 

"No  fear  for  Delhi,"  remarked  one.  "The 
women  here  are  not  of  that  sort — have  too  much 
respect  for  themselves.  Isn't  that  so,  Wesley  ?" 

The  person  thus  addressed  was  a  young  man 
who,  with  three  others,  was  sitting  at  a  table  play 
ing  cards.  He  had  been  listening  to  the  conver 
sation  which  had  grown  out  of  Mrs.  Sterling's  visit. 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  by  too  respect 
able,"  he  replied,  drawing  himself  up.  He  had 
been  drinking  rather  freely.  "  But  I  can  tell  you 
one  thing:  respectable  or  not  respectable,  there's 
one  woman  in  this  town  who  knows  how  to  pray 
and  who  isn't  afraid.  She's  used  to  it  and  can't  be 
beat;  though,"  he  added,  in  a  lower  voice,  "her 
praying  doesn't  seem  to  have  done  much  good  in 


one  case." 


"  In  yours,  you  mean  ?"  said  the  saloon-keeper. 

"  Yes,  in  mine.  Look  at  me !"  and  he  spread 
out  his  hands  and  drew  himself  back.  "  I've  been 
prayed  over  since  I  was  a  baby,  and  you  see  how 
much  good  it's  done." 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  109 

"  And  all  this  praying  they  talk  about  will  do 
about  as  much  good  as  it  has  done  in  your  own 
case,"  said  the  man  who  had  been  talking  with  the 
saloon-keeper.  His  name  was  Squire.  He  was 
low-browed  and  had  coarse  features.  These,  with 
iiis  heavy  under  jaw,  marked  him  as  a  man  of 
brutal  instincts. 

One  word  brought  on  another,  and  a  great  deal 
was  said  about  praying  women  and  religious  people 
in  general,  which  Wesley  Green,  whose  head  was 
not  very  clear,  felt  called  upon  to  resent. 

"My  mother's  a  praying  woman,  and  I  won't 
stand  that  kind  of  talk/7  he  exclaimed  as  some 
sharp  philippic  brought  out  a  roar  of  laughter. 

"Yes,"  said  Squire,  in  a  cold,  sneering  voice, 
"  I've  heard  something  about  your  mother's  power 
in  prayer.  It's  said  that  she  can  pray  a  man  to 
hell  and  back  again.  She  tried  it  on  you,  it  seems — 
got  you  into  hell ;  but  J  don't  see  that  she's  made 
much  headway  in  getting  you  out.  If  I  had  a 
chance  to  put  a  word  in  her  ear,  I'd  suggest  that 
she  tried  a  few  prayers  on  the  devil.  You're  over 
into  his  kingdom  now ;  and  unless  she  makes  friends 
with  his  sooty  highness,  I'm  afraid  it's  all  over  with 
you." 


110  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

A  loud  guffaw  from  most  of  the  bar-room  loun 
gers  greeted  this  profane  sally.  Stung  by  what  he 
felt  to  be  an  insult  to  his  mother,  Green  started  to 
his  feet,  and  catching  up  the  chair  on  which  he  had 
been  sitting,  swung  it  into  the  air  and  held  it  over 
the  head  of  Squire  in  a  threatening  manner,  de 
nouncing  him  at  the  same  time  in  the  most  offen 
sive  terms  he  could  use. 

Though  Squire  knew  that  Green's  menacing  at 
titude  was  only  a  feint,  and  that  he  had  not  the 
nerve  to  strike,  he .  chose  to  act  as  though  driven  to 
self-defence,  and  struck  the  young  man  a  heavy 
blow  on  one  of  his  temples,  knocking  him  senseless 
to  the  floor. 

From  the  saloon  of  Mark  Schroder,  Mrs.  Sterling 
crossed  the  street  diagonally,  splashing  through  the 
water  that  was  filling  the  gutters  almost  to  the  tops 
of  the  curbstones.  For  a  few  moments  she  paused 
in  front  of  a  tavern  that  made  but  little  show  of 
lights  and  signs.  In  the  door  was  inserted  a  piece 
of  ground  glass  ten  inches  long  and  about  five  inches 
broad,  and  in  the  centre  of  this,  in  colored  letters, 
were  the  words,  "The  Decker  House."  Just  be 
low  this  another  and  narrower  piece  of  glass  had 
been  set  in  the  door,  and  on  this,  in  different-colored 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  Ill 

letters  were  the  words,  "  Ben  Decker."  The  place 
had  an  ill  look,  and  one  had  a  feeling  as  he  stood 
before  it  that  something  more  and  worse,  if  pos 
sible,  than  the  trade  of  drinking  was  carried  on 
inside. 

Pushing  open  the  door,  Mrs.  Sterling  went  in. 
There  were  only  two  or  three  persons  in  the  bar 
room,  and  everything  was  very  quiet. 

An  oath,  flung  out  with  angry  impatience,  greeted 
her  entrance.  It  came  from  a  little  man  who  sat 
near  the  stove,  leaning  back  in  a  chair  with  his  feet 
upon  a  table.  He  had  small,  deeply-sunken  eyes 
and  a  heavy  growth  of  dark  grizzly  hair.  His  face 
was  disfigured  by  small-pox,  and  had  more  the  ex 
pression  of  a  cruel  animal  than  that  of  a  man. 

"  Go !  go !"  he  said,  flinging  out  one  of  his  hands 
with  nervous  quickness.  "  Off  with  you,  and  don't 
let  me  see  your  face  here  again." 

Mrs.  Sterling  remained  long  enough  to  make 
sure  that  her  husband  was  not  there,  and  then  went 
away,  her  ears  stunned  by  curses  and  threats. 

"Ha!  ha!  It's  as  good  as  a  play,"  exclaimed 
one  of  the  men  who  were  lounging  in  the  saloon. 
"Curtain  rises  about  half-past  nine  every  night, 
doesn't  it,  Ben?" 


112  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

This  was  met  by  a  fresh  burst  of  indecent  pro 
fanity. 

"  It's  one  of  the  things  I'd  not  stand/'  growled 
another  inmate  of  the  bar-room.  "  When  I  kept 
tavern  over  at  Peterboro',  I  made  short  work  with 
the  old  soakers — never  'lowed  'em  to  get  a  footin' 
in  my  ranche,  sneakin'  in  without  a  red  to  save 
their  souls,  and  waitin'  for  somebody  to  ask  'em  to 
take  a  horn.  It  hurts  a  respectable  place,  it  does. 
No  decent  feller  wants  to  have  a  loafer  sidlin'  up  to 
him  when  he's  gettin'  a  comfortable  drink,  and 
lookin'  like  a  dyin'  calf.  It's  a  nuisance.  I 
wouldn't  patronize  a  place  where  such  things  are 
allowed ;  and  if  you'll  take  a  friend's  advice,  Ben 
Decker,  you'll  pitch  that  cuss  of  a  Sterling  into 
the  street  the  very  next  time  he  puts  his  nose  in 
here." 

"  Just  what  I'm  going  to  do,"  answered  the  man 
to  whom  this  was  addressed. 

As  he  spoke  the  door  was  pushed  open,  and  a 
poor  wretch,  drenched  with  rain  and  shivering  from 
cold,  came  shuffling  into  the  bar-room. 

"  There's  the  miserable  cuss  now !"  exclaimed  the 
man  who  had  just  given  his  advice  as  to  the  treat 
ment  "  old  soakers  "  should  receive. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  113 

At  this,  Ben  Decker,  his  face  aflame  with  sudden 
passion,  started  up,  and  striding  across  the  room, 
confronted  the  individual  who  had  just  entered. 

"  Clear  out !"  he  cried,  angrily. 

But  Sterling — for  it  was  that  poor  fallen  man — 
was  used  to  treatment  like  this,  and  did  not  mind 
it.  It  was  one  of  the  unpleasant  incidents  of  the 
wretched  life  he  now  led — one  of  the  many  lions 
that  were  perpetually  starting  up  in  his  way,  and 
which  must  be  passed.  He  did  not  "  clear  out," 
but  stood  his  ground,  and  commenced  fumbling  in 
his  pockets  as  if  searching  for  money. 

"Did  you  hear?"  exclaimed  Decker.  There  was 
the  growl  of  a  beast  in  his  tones,  but  Sterling  was 
too  much  stupefied  by  drink  to  heed  this  warning. 
He  made  an  attempt  to  pass  the  infuriated  saloon 
keeper,  who,  seeing  the  movement,  grasped  him  by 
the  shoulder  and  pushed  him  back  to  the  door 
through  which  he  had  just  entered.  Sterling  strug 
gled  feebly,  but  he  was  little  more  than  a  child  in 
the  other's  hands.  Out  through  the  door  he  was 
thrust;  and  as  Decker  gave  him  a  kick  that  threw 
him  half  across  the  pavement,  causing  him  to  fall 
with  his  head  striking  the  curb-stone,  he  cried  out 
fiercely, 


114  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"  If  you  show  yourself  inside  of  my  place  again, 
I'll  wring  your  cursed  neck  off." 

"  That's  the  ticket !"  exclaimed  the  man  who  had 
incited  Decker  to  the  commission  of  this  outrage. 
"  That's  the  way  I  used  to  serve  'em,  and  it  did  the 
business.  The  loafers  soon  got  to  know  my  ways 
and  kept  clear  of  me,  ha !  ha !  If  he  comes  back 
to-morrow  night,  repeat  the  dose.  You  can  stand 
it  as  long  as  he  can,  I  guess.  It's  bound  to  cure  in 
the  end." 

Liquor  was  then  called  for,  and  the  company 
drank  all  around,  and  had  a  good  jolly  time  over 
this  little  episode  in  bar-room  life. 

Mrs.  Sterling's  next  visit  was  to  the  "  Hanlan 
House,"  at  the  corner  of  Elm  and  Main  streets,  the 
great  gas-lamp  of  which,  gorgeous  with  many  colors, 
was  conspicuous  above  all  its  rivals.  Mrs.  Sterling 
always  shrunk  with  a  painful  sense  of  humiliation 
from  entering  this  saloon,  but  her  husband  often 
went  there  at  night;  and  not  having  found  him  at 
the  taverns  already  visited,  she  turned  her  feet  to 
ward  Hanlan's  as  the  next  place  at  which  she  would 
be  most  likely  to  find  him.  Hanlan  did  not  relish 
these  visits.  Her  presence  among  his  customers, 
who  were  still  largely  made  up  of  the  better  class 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  115 

of  people  in  Delhi,  was  an  unpleasant  intrusion, 
and  had  the  effect  of  throwing  a  shadow  upon  their 
feelings,  for  many  of  them  had  known  Mrs.  Ster 
ling,  and  even  enjoyed  her  own  and  husband's  gen 
erous  hospitality,  in  other  and  better  days. 

"  Can't  you  keep  that  woman  away  from  here, 
Hanlan  ?"  a  judge  of  the  county  court  had  said  to 
him  only  a  few  nights  before.  "  It's  like  throwing 
a  dash  of  cold  water  over  me.  Ugh!  it  makes 
one  feel  bad  for  a  week  afterward.  If  I'm  to  run 
the  risk  of  meeting  an  apparition  like  that  every 
night,  I  shall  stay  at  home."  And  another  gentle 
man,  one  of  Jimmy's  best  customers,  had  remarked, 
not  long  before : 

"  It's  a  cursed  shame  to  have  that  woman  com 
ing  here.  Why  don't  you  stop  it  ?" 

And  from  others  of  his  regular  visitors  the 
saloon-keeper  had  remonstrances  of  a  similar  kind. 
It  was  not  agreeable  to  have  their  pleasant  even 
ings  disturbed  after  that  fashion.  The  white,  worn 
face  of  Mrs.  Sterling,  her  deep-sunken  and  mourn 
ful  eyes,  her.  poor  thin  garments  and  slender, 
wasted  frame,  standing  out,  as  they  did,  sharply 
framed  by  the  contrasting  comforts  and  bright 
surroundings  of  Hanlan's  saloon,  made  a  picture 


116  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

in  every  mind  that  saw  her  as  distinct  as  if  painted 
by  the  pencil  of  the  sun — a  picture  from  which 
they  could  not  turn  their  mental  vision. 

Hanlan  had  tried  to  keep  Sterling  away,  and  had 
often  threatened  to  eject  him  with  violence  if  he 
dared  to  show  himself  inside  of  the  bar-room,  but 
Sterling  was  a  quiet  man,  and  gave  no  offence  suffi 
cient  to  warrant  a  measure  of  this  kind.  Jimmy 
kept  a  public-house,  and  he  had  as  much  right  as 
any  other  man  to  go  in  and  come  out  at  will  if  he 
conducted  himself  in  an  orderly  manner.  Here  it 
was  that  he  oftenest  received  invitations  to  drink 
from  old  friends  who  knew  that,  with  his  all- 
absorbing  thirst,  he  rarely  had  the  means  of  grati 
fying  it  to  any  extent,  and  who,  pitying  him,  helped 
him  to  the  one  only  enjoyment  of  his  life. 

Almost  daily,  therefore,  did  Sterling  visit  Jim 
my's  saloon,  undeterred  by  cold  looks,  scowls  or 
rebuffs,  and  few  nights  passed  that  he  did  not 
drop  in.  He  was  usually  restless  during  the  early 
part  of  the  evening,  going  from  tavern  to  tavern 
and  getting  all  the  liquor  he  could  obtain.  By 
nine  or  ten  o'clock  he  was  generally  in  a  half- 
drunken  state,  and  would  fall  asleep  wherever  he 
happened  to  be,  and  remain  in  that  condition  until 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  117 

his  wife  found  him  and  took  him  home.  Some 
times  unfeeling  practical  jokes  would  be  played  off 
upon  him,  and  sometimes  an  impatient  saloon 
keeper  would  rouse  him  up  and  start  him  off,  using 
both  kicks  and  curses  if  he  made  any  resistance. 
It  not  unfrequently  happened  that  his  wife  would 
come  upon  him  wandering  about  the  streets,  too 
much  bewildered  to  find  his  way  home ;  and  once 
she  discovered  him  sitting  in  a  chair,  on  the  pave 
ment  in  front  of  a  tavern,  fast  asleep  in  a  drench 
ing  rain.  The  heartless  proprietor  and  his  bar 
keeper  had  placed  him  there,  and  thought  it  a 
capital  joke. 

As  Mrs.  Sterling  entered  Hanlan's  saloon  a  stout 
boy,  in  the  working-dress  of  a  mechanic,  who  was 
sitting  at  a  table  with  another  lad  about  his  own 
age  playing  at  dominoes,  turned  suddenly  pale  and 
dropped. his  face  out  of  sight. 

"Good  Heavens!  there's  that  woman  again/7 
Jimmy  heard  one  of  his  best  customers,  a  promi 
nent  lawyer  and  politician,  exclaim ;  and  turning 
quickly,  he  saw  the  drenched  figure  of  Mrs.  Ster 
ling  near  the  door  through  which  she  had  just 
entered. 

An  oath  too  profane  and  indecent  to  sully  our 


118  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

pages  fell  from  H^nlan's  lips.  Turning  quickly,  he 
strode  across  the  room,  and  confronting  Mrs.  Ster 
ling,  said,  with  rising  passion, 

"  There's  been  enough  of  this  cursed  business, 
and  it  must  stop !  I've  told  you  over  and  over 
again  not  to  come  here.  Take  yourself  off  at 
once." 

Hanlan  pointed  with  an  imperative  gesture  to 
the  door,  but  all  this  made  no  more  impression  on 
Mrs.  Sterling  than  the  sighing  of  a  summer  wind. 
Her  pale  face  neither  flushed  nor  changed  its  ex 
pression.  She  merely  stepped  past  him  and  ad 
vanced  a  few  steps  farther  into  the  room,  her  eyes 
turning  quickly  from  side  to  side,  searching  for  her 
husband. 

To  baffle  a  man  in  anger  is  generally  to  throw 
him  into  a  blind  rage,  and  the  lower  and  more 
brutal  his  instincts,  the  more  indecent  and  savage 
Avill  his  rage  make  him.  The  quiet,  irresponsive 
way  in  which  Mrs.  Sterling  moved  past  the  saloon 
keeper,  instead  of  turning  back,  as  he  had  meant 
that  she  should  do,  maddened  him  beyond  control. 
A  fearful  oath,  coupled  with  a  vile  epithet,  fell  from 
his  lips ;  and  catching  her  roughly  by  the  arm,  he 
jerked  her  toward  the  door. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  119 

Uttering  a  fierce  cry  and  springing  forward  in  a 
quick  bound,  the  boy  who  had  tried  to  conceal  his 
face  when  he  saw  Mrs.  Sterling  enter  the  bar-room 
was  upon  Hanlan  now,  grappling  him  with  the 
fury  of  a  savage  beast,  and  bearing  him  to  the 
floor  in  his  sudden  onset. 

A  scene  of  the  wildest  confusion  followed  in 
stantly.  Hanlan,  who  was  a  powerful  man,  strug 
gled  quickly  to  his  feet  and  threw  off  his  assailant, 
but  the  boy  was  back  upon  him  with  the  quickness 
of  a  flash,  and  would  have  struck  him  in  the  face 
if  the  saloon-keeper  had  not  been  something  of  a 
pugilist  and  skilled  in  parrying  blows. 

The  odds  were  against  the  lad.  The  fiery  strength 
of  sudden  passion  had  to  give  way  and  die  out 
helplessly  in  the  grasp  of  superior  force.  Hanlan 
was  permitted  to  punish  him  severely,  and  then  to 
hand  him  over  to  a  compliant  constable,  who  locked 
him  up  in  jail  for  the  night,  though  every  man  who 
witnessed  the  assault  knew  that  the  boy  had  made 
it  in  defence  of  his  mother. 

All  this  passed  in  a  few  minutes,  breaking  in 
upon  the  quiet  of  Jimmy  Hanlan's  respectable 
saloon  like  a  summer  whirlwind,  and  raging  for 
its  brief  season  as  wildly.  When  it  was  over  and 


120  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

order  again  restored,  all  the  pleasant  hilarity  of 
the  company  was  gone,  and  one  after  another  began 
dropping  out  and  going  home.  The  anger  which 
most  of  Hanlan's  customers  had  felt  toward  the 
"  savage  young  dog,"  as  some  of  them  had  called 
him,  began  to  give  way  in  their  minds  to  a  feeling 
of  admiration  for  his  brave  defence  of  his  mother, 
and  a  regret  that  Hanlan  had  been  permitted  to 
punish  him  so  severely  and  then  have  him  locked 
up  in  jail.  More  than  one  of  them  silently  resolved 
to  appear  and  go  the  lad's  bail  if  the  saloon-keeper 
persisted  in  having  him  tried  for  assault  and  bat 
tery,  and  so  making  an  example  of  him,  as  he  had 
threatened  to  do.  Others  determined  to  see  Han 
lan  the  first  thing  in  the  morning  and  persuade 
him  to  let  the  matter  drop. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

II/TRS.  STERLING  had  been  gone  for  nearly 
•**•*-  half  an  hour,  and  Mrs.  Payne,  who  sat  watch 
ing  by  her  sick  child,  was  beginning  to  feel  uneasy 
about  her  neighbor.  The  storm  showed  no  abate 
ment,  the  wind  still  roaring  and  shrieking  and  the 
rain  falling  heavily.  Without  any  warning  of 
approaching  footsteps,  the  door  was  pushed  open, 
and  Mrs.  Sterling  came  in  almost  as  silently  as  a 
ghost.  Not  more  ghostly  were  her  movements  than 
her  face.  That  was  as  white  and  still  and  as  full 
of  despair  as  the  face  of  a  lost  spirit. 

"  What's  the  matter  ?  Nothing  happened  to  Mr. 
Sterling,  I  hope  ?"  said  Mrs.  Payne,  alarmed  at  the 
manner  and  appearance  of  her  friend. 

Mrs.  Sterling  did  not  reply.  She  only  stared 
strangely  at  her  neighbor. 

"  Alice  is  better,  I  think — hasn't  nigh  so  much 
fever,"  said  Mrs.  Payne,  trying  to  break  the  spell 
that  was  on  Mrs.  Sterling,  but  the  latter  did  not 

seem  to  hear  what  she  said. 

121 


122  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"My  dear  friend,  what  is  it?  You  frighten 
me !  What  has  happened  ?" 

"  Happened !  O  my  God  !"  and  Mrs.  Sterling 
clasped  her  hands  together,  and  lifted  her  dry  eyes 
upward  with  a  look  of  beseeching  anguish. 

" He  isn't  dead?" 

"Dead!  Who?  Where?'7  Mrs.  Sterling  gave  a 
start.  "  No,  no,"  she  replied,  mournfully,  growing 
quiet  again.  "Nobody's  dead.  If  that  were  all? 
I  could  bless  God.  Dead !"  she  went  on,  a  little 
wild  now  in  her  manner,  as  if  losing  herself. 
"  Oh,  the  dead  are  all  right — the  dead  are  safe.  I 
am  happy  in  my  dead.  It  is  for  the -living  that  I 
mourn  ;  it  is  for  them  that  my  heart  is  ready  to 
break." 

Mrs.  Payne  drew  her  arm  about  her  suffering 
friend  with  the  loving  tenderness  of  a  sister,  saying 
as  she  did  so, 

"  The  living  and  the  dead  are  alike  in  the  hands 
of  God.  We  must  not  despair.  In  him  is  our 
help." 

Mrs.  Sterling  only  shook  her  head. 

"  Tell  me  what  has  happened.  All  may  not  be 
as  dark  as  it  seems  to  you  now.  Perhaps  I  may  be 
able  to  find  some  gleams  of  light," 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  123 

"  My  boy  is  in  jail !"  was  answered,  in  a  cry  that 
was  full  of  the  deepest  pain. 

"  What  ?     In  jail  ?    Oh,  Mrs.  Sterling !" 

"  But  not  for  a  crime,  thank  God !"  said  Mrs. 
Sterling,  seeing  an  expression  in  her  neighbor's  face 
that  she  did  not  like — "not  for  a  crime,  thank 
God !  He  could  not  see  his  mother  insulted  and 
keep  down  his  angry  passions,  my  poor  boy! 
He  was  at  Hanlan's  saloon  when  I  went  in  there  to 
look  for  his  father ;  and  when  Hanlan  swore  at  me 
and  tried  to  shove  me  out  into  the  street,  George 
sprang  upon  him  like  a  tiger.  But  it  was  of  no 
use.  He  was  only  a  boy,  and  Hanlan  beat  him 
dreadfully.  Then  a  constable  who  was  in  the 
saloon  arrested  him  and  carried  him  off  to  jail. 
Hanlan  ordered  him  to  do  it  with  as  much  authority 
as  if  he'd  been  a  judge  or  the  sheriff,  and  the  con 
stable  did  as  he  was  told." 

"  What  was  George  doing  at  Hanlan's  saloon  ? 
How  came  he  in  town  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Payne. 

The  light  which  had  flashed  into  Mrs.  Sterling's 
face  Avhile  speaking  in  defence  of  her  boy  died  out 
as  suddenly  as  it  had  appeared. 

"That  is  worst  of  all,"  she  answered.  "When 
I  saw  him  there,  even  though  he  rushed  to  my  pro- 


124  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

tection,  I  felt  as  if  I  had  received  a  heavy  blow. 
The  hurt  went  very  deep,  and  I  feel  the  ache  here 
so  dreadfully  that  it  seems  as  if  it  must  kill  me ;" 
and  she  drew  her  hand  over  her  heart.  "  Oh,  Mrs. 
Payne,  was  my  cup  not  bitter  enough,  that  I  must 
have  this  added  ?" 

"Good  may  come  of  this  trouble,"  said  the 
neighbor,  trying  to  comfort  her.  "It's  a  severe 
remedy ;  but  if  it  cures  George  of  going  to  drink 
ing  saloons,  you  may  be  thankful  for  what  has 
happened." 

Mrs.  Sterling  did  not  reply,  but  sat  wringing 
her  hands. 

"Where  is  your  husband?"  inquired  Mrs.  Payne. 
But  before  an  answer  could  be  made  the  door 
opened,  and  Sterling  himself  came  staggering  in. 

One  glance,  a  frightened  cry,  and  the  poor  wife 
dropped  senseless  to  the  floor.  No  wonder,  for  the 
face  upon  which  her  eyes  rested  was  covered  all 
over  with  blood. 

There  was  considerable  excitement  in  the  pub 
lic  mind  of  Delhi  on  the  next  day.  The  Eagle 
contained  two  local  paragraphs  that  set  people  to 
talking  and  gave  the  advocates  of  temperance  an 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  125 

opportunity  to  call  attention  to  the  evil  in  their 
midst.  They  were  as  follows  :  First :  . 

"A  SEKIOUS  AFFAIR.  —  An  altercation  took 
place  in  Schroder's  saloon  last  night  between  a  nian 
named  Squire  and  Wesley  Green.  It  is  said  that 
the  former  made  some  insulting  remark  about 
Green's  mother,  which  the  latter  resented,  when 
Squire  struck  him  a  heavy  blow  on  one  of  his 
temples,  knocking  him  senseless.  He  was  taken 
home  immediately,  but  at  the  hour  we  went  to 
press  this  morning  was  still  unconscious.  Serious 
results  are  feared  by  the  doctor." 

Second : 

"  AN  EXCITEMENT  AT  JIMMY  HANLAN'S. — The 
visitors  at  this  quiet  house  were  treated  to  a  little 
episode  not  in  the  bills  last  evening.  Between  nine 
and  ten  o'clock  a  certain  woman  whose  husband  is 
not  as  steady  as  he  might  be  looked  in  at  Jimmy's 
to  see  if  he  were  about.  Visitations  of  this  kind 
are  not  agreeable  affairs,  especially  to  a  man  •  like 
our  friend  Hanlan.  She  had  been  there  before, 
and  Jimmy  had  remonstrated  with  her  in  a  gentle 
manly  way,  at  the  same  time  insisting  that  he  could 
not  permit  her  to  annoy  his  customers.  But  all 
this  went  for  nothing.  She  made  her  appearance 


126  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

again  last  night,  when  Hanlan  took  her  by  the  arm 
to  lead  her  to  the  door,  but,  presto !  the  woman's 
son,  who  it  seems  is  following  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  father,  sprang  upon  him  like  a  young  tiger. 
There  was  an  exciting  scene  for  a  few  moments. 
But  Jimmy  is  quite  able  to  take  care  of  himself, 
and  so,  after  punishing  the  fierce  young  savage  as 
he  deserved,  had  him  locked  up  in  jail.  Those 
who  witnessed  the  scene  say  that  it  was  an  animated 
affair." 

As  the  day  wore  on  a  great  many  new  facts  ap 
pertaining  to  these  two  incidents,  as  well  as  a  great 
many  exaggerated  rumors,  got  afloat  in  the  public 
mind,  and  a  large  number  of  persons  became  dis 
turbed  and  indignant.  At  a  very  early  hour  in 
the  morning,  Hanlan,  acting  under  the  advice  of 
one  of  his  customers  who  was  feeling  the  quicker 
beat  of  the  common  pulse,  had  seen  to  it  that 
George  Sterling  was  discharged  from  arrest.  The 
editor  of  the  Eagle,  moved  thereto  by  some  plain 
talk  from  citizens  who  had  cause  for  deploring 
the  baleful  effect  of  thirty  saloons  in  a  popula 
tion  of  five  thousand  souls,  expressed  regret  at 
having  treated  the  matter  with  an  appearance  of 
levity. 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  127 

Meantime,  the  thrill  of  a  new  hope  was  being 
felt  in  the  hearts  of  many.  Strange  tidings  floated 
on  the  air.  The  Eagle  of  that  morning  had  des 
patches  from  two  or  three  towns  in  Ohio  which 
read  like  the  dreams  of  a  romance.  The  news 
contained  in  these  despatches  was  upon  every 
tongue.  There  was  laughing,  scoffing,  wonder, 
approval,  doubt,  depreciation  and  enthusiasm,  just 
as  one  and  another  stood  in  reference  to  the  drink 
ing  question  or  to  religion.  The  Eagle,  which 
on  the  day  before  had  made  a  pleasant  joke  over 
the  single  despatch  from  one  of  the  Ohio  towns 
which  it  contained,  now  took  the  matter  more 
seriously  to  heart,  and  had  a  brief  article  assuming 
the  ground  that  the  whole  thing  was  degrading  to 
woman  and  a  profanation  of  religion — a  mere  blaze 
of  fanaticism  that  would  soon  die  out  and  leave 
things  worse  than  before.  It  expressed  its  confi 
dent  belief  that  the  women  of  Delhi  had  too  much 
good  sense  and  too  much  womanly  delicacy  to  be 
ever  drawn  into  a  similar  folly. 

Three  sorrowing  women  drew  together  late  in 
the  afternoon  of  that  day.  They  were  Mrs.  Rhoda 
Green,  Mrs.  Wilder,  wife  of  Rev.  Jason  Wilder, 
and  Mrs.  Amy  Gordon.  The  meeting  was  at  Mrs. 


128  WOMAN  TO   THE  EESCUE. 

Green's  house,  whither  her  tearful  sisters  had  come 
to  offer  her  'their  sympathy.  Wesley  Green  was 
still  unconscious,  but  Doctor  Sandford  had  recog 
nized  some  favorable  symptoms,  and  spoke  en 
couragingly  of  the  case. 

These  were  all  women  of  deep  and  earnest  piety, 
and  used  to  going  to  God  in  daily  prayer  and  sup 
plication.  They  believed  in  prayer  as  a  potent 
agency,  not  in  changing  God's  purpose  or  making 
him  more  considerate  of  his  creatures,  but  in  so 
changing  man's  attitude  toward  God,  and  the 
spiritual  sphere  by  which  we  are  surrounded,  as 
to  make  it  possible  for  him  to  impart  the  bless 
ings  he  stands  ever  ready  to  give,  and  determine 
the  beneficent  agencies  he  is  ever  ready  to  set  in 
operation. 

The  new  movement  against  intemperance,  the 
first  reports  of  which  were  just  coming  to  their 
ears,  had  affected  them  with  a  half-bewildering 
but  glad  surprise.  It  seemed  too  good  to  be  true. 
But  day  after  day  brought  fresh  intelligence,  and 
the  little  fire  which  had  blazed  up  so  suddenly 
was  increasing  to  a  flame  against  the  gathering 
strength  of  which  nothing  seemed  able  long  to 
stand. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  129 

Into  the  quiet  of  an  upper  room  these  three 
women,  despairing  of  help  in  man,"  went  humbly 
to  lay  their  case  and  that  of  their  suffering  sisters 
in  Delhi  before  God.  First,  as  they  sat  down 
together,  Mrs.  Green  opened  the  Bible  and  read 
in  a  low,  tender  voice,  which  almost  sobbed  with 
its  deep  pathos,  the  one  hundred  and  forty-second 
Psalm : 

"  I  cried  unto  the  Lord  with  my  voice ;  with  my 
voice  unto  the  Lord  did  I  make  my  supplication. 
I  poured  out  my  complaint  before  him;  I  showed 
before  him  my  trouble.  When  my  spirit  was  over 
whelmed  within  me,  then  thou  knewest  my  path. 
In  the  way  wherein  I  walked  have  they  privily 
laid,  a  snare  for  me.  I  looked  on  my  right  hand, 
and  beheld,  but  there  was  no  man  who  knew  me : 
refuge  failed  me;  no  man  cared  for  my  soul.  I 
cried  unto  thee,  O  Lord:  I  said,  Thou  art  my 
refuge  and  my  portion  in  the  land  of  the  living. 
Attend  unto  my  cry ;  for  I  am  brought  very  low : 
deliver  me  from  my  persecutors;  for  they  are 
stronger  than  I.  Bring  my  soul  out  of  prison, 
that  I  may  praise  thy  name;  the  righteous  shall 
compass  me  about ;  for  thou  shalt  deal  bountifully 
with  me." 

9 


130  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

Then  they  all  knelt  close  together,  and  Mrs. 
Green  led  them  in  prayer. 

"O  Lord,"  she  said,  "our  Father  and  our 
Friend,  our  Saviour  and  our  Redeemer !  As  David 
did  of  old,  we  thy  suffering  children  have  come  to 
lay  our  complaints  before  thee,  and  to  show  thee 
our  trouble.  Our  spirits  are  overwhelmed.  We 
have  looked  unto  the  right  hand  and  the  left,  but 
there  is  no  man  to  help  us ;  refuge  has  failed ;  no 
man  careth  for  our  souls.  And  now  we  cry  unto 
thee,  O  Lord !  Thou  alone  art  our  refuge,  our 
portion  in  the  land  of  the  living.  Hear  our  cries, 
O  Lord  !  for  we  are  brought  very  low.  They  who 
are  against  us  are  stronger  than  we,  and  there  is  no 
help  for  us  except  in  our  God.  O  Lord  !  it  cannot 
be  that  evil  is  stronger  than  good.  It  cannot  be 
that  the  floods  of  sorrow  now  sweeping  over  and 
desolating  our  land  are  never  to  be  stayed.  Oh, 
hasten  the  time  when  the  power  of  thy  word  shall 
stir  the  souls  of  the  people.  Let  thy  Spirit  draw 
very  near  to  strengthen  and  put  courage  into  the 
hearts  of  thy  servants  everywhere,  that  they  dis 
comfit  their  enemies  as  the  Amalekites  were  dis 
comfited  before  the  Lord  when  they  fought  against 
Israel. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  131 

"  O  Lord !  we  would  ask  of  thee  concerning  this 
new  thing,  and  seek  thy  guidance.  We  know  that 
if  it  be  from  thee  it  cannot  come  to  naught,  that 
if  it  be  a  descent  of  spiritual  forces  to  a  lower  plane 
— a  manifestation  of  thy  power  in  the  very  presence 
of  the  people — not  all  the  hosts  of  hell  shall  pre 
vail  against  it.  Our  weak  flesh  may  shrink  from 
girding  on  the  armor  and  going  forth  to  battle,  but 
heart  and  flesh  shall  not  fail,  O  Lord  our  Strength 
and  our  Redeemer !  if  we  but  hear  thy  call.  Speak 
to  us  thy  servants !  Let  us  hear  thy  still  small 
voice  in  the  silence  of  our  waiting  souls,  and  if  it 
shall  say,  Go  forward,  we  will  go." 

When  they  arose  from  their  knees  and  looked 
one  upon  another,  each  saw  a  new  expression  in  the 
face  of  her  sister.  The  signs  of  reviving  hope,  of 
a  rallying  courage,  of  strength  and  confidence,  shone 
in  their  gentle  faces.  Mrs.  Green  was  first  to  speak. 

"My  sisters,"  she  said,  "we  are  in  the  nearer 
presence  of  our  Lord ;  let  us  open  our  minds  to 
him.  We  have  met  in  his  name,  and  he  has  told 
us  that  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in 
his  name  he  will  be  in  their  midst.  Everywhere 
in  his  holy  book  he  tells  us  to  pray  to  him,  and 
gives  unnumbered  assurances  that  he  will  answer 


132  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

our  prayers.  How  the  answer  will  come  no  one 
knows,  but  it  is  enough  that  we  desire  heavenly 
gifts  and  blessings,  good  that  is  genuine  for  our 
selves  and  our  neighbors,  and  sincerely  and  unself 
ishly  pray  for  them,  doing  at  the  same  time  all  in 
our  power  for  the  attainment  of  what  we  desire. 
God  will  surely  answer  our  prayers,  not  accord 
ing  to  our  ignorance,  but  according  to  his  own  un 
erring  wisdom.  For  this  we  have  his  unfailing 
word." 

They  separated,  agreeing  to  meet  that  evening  at 
the  house  of  Mrs.  Wilder  and  ask  her  husband, 
Rev.  Jason  Wilder,  a  good  and  true  man,  to  counsel 
with  them.  Ten  women  met  at  the  clergyman's 
residence.  Among  them  were,  besides  the  three 
already  introduced,  Mrs.  Judge  Hanson,  Mrs.  Payne, 
Mrs.  Sterling,  Mrs.  Judge  Isett,  the  wives  of  two 
clergymen  besides  Mrs.  Wilder — true,  earnest  Chris 
tian  women — and  the  wife  of  Dr.  Sandford.  With 
only  one  exception,  all  of  these  women  had  suffered 
deeply  from  the  curse  of  intemperance,  some  in 
their  husbands  or  brothers  and  some  in  their  sons. 
It  had  robbed  their  lives  of  all  sweetness  and 
turned  their  joy  into  sorrow. 

The  meeting  was  opened  by  Mr.  Wilder,  who 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  133 

read  a  chapter  from  the  Bible,  and  then  offered  up, 
in  a  voice  tremulous  with  emotion,  a  prayer  for 
divine  guidance. 

"  Until  now,  O  Lord  !"  he  said,  "  it  has  seemed 
that  there  was  no  hope  for  the  people,  as  if  there 
was  no  hand  strong  enough  to  save  them.  All  the 
counsels  of  man  have  come  to  naught.  The  bar 
riers  that  his  hand  have  set  against  the  fiery  flood 
have  been  swept  away  like  heaps  of  chaff  or 
stubble.  But  now  there  breaks  upon  us  a  song  of 
good  tidings,  and  from  this  side  and  that  come 
echoes  and  glad  refrains  that  are  stirring  the  hearts 
of  the  people  with  joy.  Is  it  indeed  thy  hand,  O 
Lord  ?  We  believe  that  it  is.  Open  our  eyes  that 
we  may  see  the  hidings  of  thy  power  and  know 
that  it  is  indeed  from  thee.  Our  sisters  here  before 
thee  are  full  of  sorrow.  Thou  seest  them  all. 
Let  the  moans  of  their  bitter  anguish  come  up 
before  thee.  The  man  of  sin  has  prevailed  against 
them  until  now;  his  arrows  have  pierced  their 
beloved  ones;  they  are  grieving  as  those  without 
hope.  Turning  from  all  their  trust  in  man,  they 
come  to  thee  and  implore  thy  help.  Uncover  for 
them  the  arm  of  thy  power,  O  Lord !  They  are 
ready  for  this  work  if  thy  blessing  be  upon  it. 


134  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

Guide  their  counsels  to-night,  and  show  them  thy 
way.'" 

After  the  prayer,  Mrs.  Rhoda  Green  said : 

"My  dear  sisters,  when  these  strange  tidings 
were  first  heard  I  said  '  No ;  this  is  not  the  way.7 
My  womanly  nature  and  my  religious  feelings  both 
sustained  a  shock.  I  thought  of  what  our  Lord 
had  said  about  praying  at  the  corners  of  streets  to 
be  seen  of  men  and  about  entering  into  our  closets 
and  shutting  the  door.  But  I  soon  saw  that  if 
this  were  to  be  understood  only  in  its  literal  sense 
it  forbade  praying  in  the  great  congregation  as  well 
as  at  street  corners,  and  that  the  only  things  our 
blessed  Lord  meant  to  condemn  were  insincere  and 
pharisaical  prayers. 

"The  manifest  blessing  that  has  followed  this 
movement  shows  that  it  is  good,  and  all  good  is 
from  God.  Whole  towns,  where  the  curse  of 
liquor-selling  has  been  upon  the  people  for  years, 
and  where  every  attempt  to  throw  it  off  has  proved 
utterly  vain,  have  been  emancipated  in  a  week. 
And,  what  is  more,  large  numbers  of  persons  who 
had  all  their  lives  been  indifferent  to  religion  have 
come  under  its  heavenly  influence. 

"  Think,  dear  sisters,  of  this  our  beloved  town 


WOMAN  TO   THE'  RESCUE.  135 

f 

free  from  the  curse  of  rum !  Does  not  the  very 
thought  make  your  hearts  leap  ?  Delhi  free  from 
the  iron  rule  of  an  oppressor  more  cruel  than 
death !  Oh,  my  sisters,  God  has  called  us  to  this 
work,  and  I,  for  one,  cannot  -shut  my  ears  to  the 
call.  In  deep  thankfulness  I  lift  my  heart  and 
bless  his  name  for  showing  us  a  way  when  it 
seemed  as  if  there  was  no  way." 

Where  Mrs.  Green  stood  ready  to  lead,  all  these 
her  suffering  sisters  were  ready  to  follow.  It  re 
quired  no  second  appeal.  Organization  was  re 
solved  upon  at  once. 

At  nine  o'clock  next  morning  Delhi  heard  an 
unusual  sound.  One  of  the  church  bells  rang  out, 
at  this  unwonted  hour,  a  summons  for  the  people. 
Men  paused  on  the  street  or  at  their  work  and  lis 
tened.  Women  looked  at  each  other,  and  asked, 
What  does  this  mean  ?  Stroke  after  stroke  of  the 
bell  went  pulsing  through  the  air,  and  the  sound  had 
in  it  some  new  signification,  and  hearts  were  stirred 
by  it  strangely.  A  spiritual  atmosphere  more  sub 
tle  than  the  finest  ether,  an  atmosphere  in  which  the 
soul  lives  and  breathes,  received,  by  some  mysterious 
correspondence,  an  impulse  from  the  tones  of  that 
bell,  and  bore  it  from  mind  to  mind  and  heart  to, 


136  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 


heart,  until  almost  every  man  and  woman  in  Delhi 
felt  an  impression  of  something  not  clearly  under 
stood.  The  thought  stirred  by  this  vague  impres 
sion  was  singularly  alike  with  nearly  all,  and  their 
guesses  struck  the  truth. 

"  Hark  !"  said  Judge  Hanson,  who  had  gone  into 
the  "  Hanlan  House  "  to  take  his  second  glass,  in 
order  to  bring  up  his  nerves  to  the  required  tension 
for  the  day's  business,  and  who  was  just  raising  the 
glass  to  his  lips  when  the  church  bell  rang  out  loud 
and  clear.  "  What  does  that  mean  ?" 

He  paused  with  the  liquor  yet  un tasted,  and  stood 
listening,  his  countenance  growing  grave. 

"  It  means  church,  I  suppose,"  remarked  a  person 
who  stood  near  him. 

"  It  means  a  different  kind  of  church  from  any 
we've  had  in  Delhi,  or  I'm  mistaken,"  replied  Judge 
Hanson. 

"What!"  exclaimed  the  other,  at  once  compre 
hending  his  meaning.  "  You  don't  imagine  it's  a 
call  for  the  crusaders  ?" 

"I'll  bet  my  life  on  it,"  returned  the  judge. 
"There  was  a  meeting  of  women  at  Jason  Wil- 
der's  last  night,  and  he's  just  the  man  to  set  them 
going." 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  137 

"  The  whining  old  hypocrite !"  broke  in  Hanlan, 
with  an  angry  growl  in  his  voice. 

"  No,  Jason  Wilder  is  not  a  hypocrite,"  answered 
the  judge,  turning  to  the  saloon-keeper.  "  He's  any 
thing  but  that.  And  if  he  gives  countenance  to  a 
whisky  crusade  in  Delhi,  the  sooner  you  shut  up 
shop  the  better.  There  are  good  women  enough  in 
his  church  to  pray  all  the  saloon-keepers  out  of 
town  in  a  week." 

"  Good  women !     Faugh  !"  sneered  Hanlan. 

"  See  here,  my  friend/7  said  Judge  Hanson,  with 
a  shade  of  official  authority  in  his  voice ;  "let  me 
give  you  a  piece  of  good  advice  at  the  outset  of  this 
business.  It  may  save  you  some  trouble — a  broken 
head,  maybe." 

The  judge  here  lifted  his  glass  and  drank  off  the 
contents. 

"  I  don't  understand  you,"  replied  Jimmy,  look 
ing  dashed  at  so  unexpected  a  remark. 

"  It's  just  this,"  said  the  judge :  "  when  this 
crusade  begins — and  I've  a  fancy  that  it's  beginning 
now — the  wives  of  a  good  many  of  your  best  cus 
tomers  will  be  among  the  crusaders." 

"  I  wouldn't  give  much  for  a  man  who'd  let  his 
wife—" 


138  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"  Silence !"  cried  the  judge,  his  countenance  grow 
ing  dark  and  stern. 

Hanlan  stepped  back,  while  a  look,  half  of  sur 
prise  and  half  of  fear,  came  into  his  face. 

"  You're  on  dangerous  ground,  my  friend,"  said 
the  judge,  in  a  warning  voiee. 

"  That's  so,"  broke  in  another  of  his  customers. 
"  It  doesn't  follow  because  men  drink  your  liquors 
that  they  will  permit  you  to  speak  lightly  of  their 
wives  or  mothers.  I  won't,  for  one;"  and  the 
man's  face  darkened  at  the  very  thought,  while  a 
threat  trembled  in  his  voice  as  he  uttered  the  last 
sentence. 

"  A  wise  man  foreseeth  the  evil  and  hideth  him 
self,"  remarked  the  judge,  "but  the  simple  pass  on 
and  are  punished.  If  you  are  wise,  you  will  keep 
a  bridle  on  your  tongue ;  and  if  you  should  have  a 
call  from  a  praying-band,  treat  them  civilly  if  you 
don't  want  a  broken  head." 

"But  you  really  don't  think,  Judge  Hanson," 
said  the  individual  who  had  joined  him  in  admon 
ishing  the  saloon-keeper,  "  that  there  is  any  likeli 
hood  of  our  women  going  into  this  thing  ?" 

"  Why  not  ?  If  praying  will  stop  the  liquor 
business — and  it  does  seem  to  be  doing  it,  think  and 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  139 

say  what  we  will — you  may  count  on  our  women. 
They've  suffered  enough  by  the  infernal  traffic — 
begging  your  pardon,  friend  Hanlan — and  I  for  one 
won't  put  a  feather  in  their  way.  There's  one  good 
woman  who  may  be  counted  on,  and  her  name  is 
Mrs.  Judge  Hanson.  A  purer,  truer,  better  woman 
doesn't  live;  and  if  any  man  dares  to  insult  her — " 

What  punishment  he  would  mete  out  to  the 
offender  the  judge  did  not  say,  for  at  the  moment  a 
young  lawyer  who  had  been  standing  at  the  bar 
turned  and  said  to  him, 

"  But,  Judge  Hanson,  for  women  to  come  into  a 
man's  place  of  business  and  interfere  with  it  is  a 
trespass,  and  must  be  so  regarded  by  the  law.  A 
man's  house  is  his  castle.  I  consider  this  whole 
thing  wrong.  Apart  from  any  opinion  you  or  I 
may  hold  as  to  the  delicacy  and  propriety  of  women 
going  in  bands  about  the  streets  and  singing  and 
praying  on  the  pavement  and  in  groggeries  and 
drinking-saloons,  the  question  resolves  itself  into 
one  of  simple  right  and  wrong.  The  law  gives  our 
friend  Jimmy  Hanlan  a  license  to  deal  in  liquors, 
and  so  long  as  he  keeps  a  decent  and  orderly  house 
the  law  must  protect  him." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Hanlan,  who  stood  listening ; 


140  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

"  and  if  I'm  interfered  with,  I  shall  appeal  to  the 
law  for  protection." 

"Once  upon  a  time/7  quietly  remarked  Judge 
Hanson,  "  it  happened  in  a  certain  community 
that  the  enactment  of  laws  and  the  administration 
thereof  got  into  the  hands  of  bad  men,  gamblers 
and  cutthroats,  who  made  use  of  their  power  to 
plunder  and  oppress  the  people,  who  could  not  get 
rid  of  them  by  the  ordinary  legal  process,  because 
of  their  skill  in  ballot-box  stuffing  a.nd  other  elec 
tion  frauds.  As  the  well-being  and  safety  of  the 
people  were  things  of  greater  moment  than  any 
mere  technical  observance  of  laws  made  for 
their  hurt  and  not  their  well-being,  the  people 
determined  to  set  the  laws  at  defiance.  To  this  end 
they  organized  a  vigilance  committee,  and  after 
due  warning  laid  violent  hands  upon  their  law- 
protected  plunderers,  hanging  some  and  banishing 
the  rest,  and  all  the  people  said  Amen!  And 
they'll  do  the  same,  mark  my  word  for  it,  whenever 
a  woman's  vigilance  committee  comes  down  on 
the  rum-sellers  of  Delhi.  As  Mr.  Lincoln  once 
declared,  the  nation  is  before  the  Constitution  and 
of  infinitely  more  value ;  and  to  save  the  nation 
one  may  break  the  Constitution.  So  the  people  are 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  141 

before  and  of  more  value  than  the  laws,  and  to  save 
the  people  we  may  break  the  laws  if  under  their 
sanction,  evils  worse  than  death  are  scattered  broad 
cast  through  the  land." 

"  Rather  a  dangerous  doctrine,  I  should  say, 
Judge  Hanson,"  replied  the  young  lawyer,  "and 
liable  to  great  abuse." 

"Let  us  take  a  case  in  point,"  answered  the 
judge.  "  It  is  by  illustration  that  we  get  the  clear 
view  of  a  question.  Hanlan,  here,  has  license  to 
sell  gin  and  beer  and  brandy,  though,  if  the  truth 
were  known,  it  isn't  worth  the  paper  it  is  written 
on,  and  he  knows  it." 

"Isn't  that  talking  a  little  wildly,  judge?"  said 
the  young  man. 

"  Not  at  all.  If  you  don't  know  the  law,  I  do. 
Under  our  general  license  system  none  but  a  regu 
lar  tavern-keeper  can  sell  liquor  at  retail,  and  he 
must  have  in  his  house  a  certain  number  of  beds 
and  other  appliances  of  tavern-keeping,  none  of 
which  you  will  find  in  this  house." 

"Are  you  sure  of  that,  Judge  Hanson?"  said 
the  lawyer. 

"  Very  sure.  An  attempt  was  made  a  few  years 
ago  to  break  up  one  or  two  of  the  worst  dens  in 


142  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

the  place,  where  boys  were  enticed  to  drink  and 
gamble.  The  indictment  charged  a  breach  of  the 
license  law,  all  the  clearly-worded  sections  of  which 
were  read  in  open  court  by  the  prosecuting  attorney. 
To  have  made  this  law  operative  in  our  town  would 
have  been  to  shut  up  over  twenty  drinking-plaees, 
this  among  the  rest.  There  was  a  stir  among  the 
liquor  men,  you  may  be  sure.  Their  rights  ( ! ) 
and.  interests  were  imperiled.  A  conviction  in 
these  cases  would  be  equivalent  to  the  destruction 
of  an  industry  in  which  large  capital  was  invested. 
There  were  curses  both  loud  and  deep  against  the 
fanatical,  meddling  temperance  men,  who  waited  in 
anxious  suspense  for  the  result. 

"I  saw  how  it  would  be  from  the  first.  The 
liquor  men  had  too  much  money  and  too  much 
influence.  What  it  cost  I  do  not  know — some  said 
over  ten  thousand  dollars.  But  the  jury  stood,  at 
the  first  count,  six  for  conviction  and  six  for 
acquittal.  Four,  after  the  second  day,  went  over  to 
the  '  not  guilty '  side.  Two  remained  firm  for  con 
viction  and  kept  the  others  out  for  three  days, 
when,  no  prospect  of  an  agreement  being  apparent, 
the  court  discharged  them.  In  disgust  and  despair 
the  temperance  men  abandoned  the  prosecution, 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  143 

and  there  the  matter  dropped.  Delhi  said,  through 
its  courts  and  juries,  ( Let  the  work  of  destruction 
go  on  though  mothers'  hearts  continue  to  bleed  and 
break  over  the  ruin  of  their  boys.7 

"  But  to  the  illustration,  which  I  had  almost  for 
gotten.  Hanlan,  as  I  was  saying,  has  a  license  to 
sell  gin  and  beer  and  brandy.  Now,  let  me  suppose 
a  case.  You  have  a  wife  who  is  very  dear  to  you. 
Wives  are  very  dear  and  precious,  and  so  are  hus 
bands,  sometimes,  if  we  are  to  believe  what  women 
say.  Unhappily,  your  wife  has  acquired  the  habit 
of  using  opium.  She  knows  it  is  hurting  her,  and 

v 

resolves  to  give  up  the  dangerous  practice.  But  it  is 
your  neighbor  the  druggist's  business  to  sell  opium, 
and  he  may  do  so  under  the  protection  of  the  law. 
He  has  a  great  many  opium  customers,  and  the 
profit  on  this  part  of  his  business  is  large.  He 
knows  that  every  ounce  of  the  seductive  drug  he 
sells  does  harm,  and  only  harm.  And  yet,  hard  of 
heart  and  greedy  of  gain,  he  not  only  pursues  the 
traffic,  but  uses  every  means  in  his  power  to  enlarge 
the  sale  of  opium  and  entice  men  and  women  to 
use  it. 

"  But  your  wife,  seeing  her  danger,  resolves  to 
give  it  up ;  your  heart  leaps  with  gladness.  The 


144  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

shadows  which  had  fallen  upon  your  home  are 
lifted.  Bright  anticipations  again  smile  down  on 
the  happy  future.  Alas  for  the  brief  delusion ! 
Your  neighbor  the  druggist  has  lost  a  good  cus 
tomer ;  if  your  wife  remains  firm,  she  will  influence 
other  women  who  are  enslaved  as  she  was  to  break 
loose  from  their  fearful  bondage,  and  he  may  lose 
many  others.  So  your  neighbor  the  druggist  sets 
a  snare  for  the  feet  of  your  wife,  and  she  falls  into 
it,  and  then  the  shadows  are  darker  than  ever  on 
your  home  and  heart.  You  go  to  this  neighbor 
and  implore  him  for  God's  sake  never  to  sell  your 
wife  opium  again.  He  orders  you  from  his  store 
or  treats  you  with  derision.  What  then  ?" 

Two  deep  red  spots  burned  on  the  young  lawyer's 
cheeks.  There  were  flashes  in  his  dilating  eyes. 

"  What  then  ?"  A  quiver  of  repressed  indignation 
shook  the  voice  of  Judge  Hanson.  "  Your  neigh 
bor  the  druggist  has  law  on  his  side.  He  is  doing 
business  under  its  protection.  His  house  is  his 
castle.  He  may  sell  his  cursed  drug  to  whom  he 
pleases.  What  then?  What  if  he  persisted  in 
tempting  your  wife  every  time  she  came  in  his  way, 
that  he  may  profit  through  her  injury?  Will  you 
sit  down  and  fold  your  hands  and  let  his  devilish 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  145 

work  go  on,  sanctioned  by  the  law  though  it  be, 
until  the  wife  you  love  so  tenderly,  the  gentle 
mother  of  your  children,  lies  wretched  and  ruined 
at  your  feet,  for  ever  lost  ?  I  trow  not !  Nature 
has  some  rights  left  that  no  human  laws  can  extin 
guish.  Are  you  answered?" 

"  I  am  answered,"  returned  the  lawyer,  in  a  sub 
dued  voice. 

"  Are  not  husbands  and  sons  and  brothers  as 
dear  to  women  as  our  wives  and  daughters  and  sis 
ters  are  to  us?"  added  the  judge.  "And  if,  in  a 
case  like  the  one  I  have  supposed,  you  or  I  or  any 
man  worthy  of  the  name  would  take  the  remedy 
into  his  own  hands,  no  matter  how  summary  and 
violent  it  might  be,  shall  heart-broken  wives  and 
mothers,  whom  the  laws  fail  to  protect,  be  con 
demned  or  hindered  when  they  only  pray  in  the 
presence  of  the  destroyers  of  their  beloved  ones 
that  God  would  touch  their  hearts  with  pity  and 
lead  them  to  abandon  their  soul-destroying  busi 
ness?  Shame  on  the  man  who  talks  about  legal 

obstructions  in  a  case  like  this !" 
10 


CHAPTER   IX. 

"TTTITHIN  twenty  minutes  after  the  bell  rang  out 
'  y  its  sudden  and  imperative  call  every  seat  in 
Mr.  Wilder's  church  was  full  and  the  aisles  crowded. 
It  was  remarkable  how  the  thought  of  the  people 
took  a  common  direction  and  guessed  the  meaning 
of  this  unusual  summons. 

At  precisely  half-past  nine  o'clock  Mr.  Wilder 
arose  in  the  pulpit,  and  without  preface  or  remark 
of  any  kind  opened  the  hymn  book  and  read  with 
the  fine  impressiveness  he  could  throw  into  his 
voice,  now  more  than  usually  touched  with  feeling, 
the  words  of  a  hymn  that  is  rarely  if  ever  sung 
without  a  peculiar  influence,  tender  and  tearful 
often,  on  the  hearts  of  those  who  hear  it : 

"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee^ 

Nearer  to  thee ! 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross 

That  raiseth  me ; 
Still  all  my  song  shall  be, 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee, 

Nearer  to  thee ! 
146 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  147 

"  Though,  like  a  wanderer 

Weary  and  lone, 
Darkness  comes  over  me, 

My  rest  a  stone, 
Yet  in  my  dreams  I'd  be 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee, 

Nearer  to  thee  I 

"  There  let  my  way  appear 

Steps  unto  heaven ; 
All  that  thou  sendest  me 

In  mercy  given  ; 
Angels  to  beckon  me 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee, 
Nearer  to  thee ! 

"  Then,  with  my  waking  thoughts 

Bright  with  thy  praise, 
Out  of  my  stony  griefa 

Bethel  I'll  raise; 
So  by  my  woes  to  be 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee, 

Nearer  to  thee  I     ' 

"  And  when  on  joyful  wings 

Cleaving  the  sky, 
Sun,  moon  and  stars  forgot, 

Upward  I  fly, 
Still  all  my  song  shall  be, 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee, 

Nearer  to  thee !" 


148  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

For  a  few  moments  a  deep  hush  pervaded  the 
large  assembly.  Then,  clear  and  sweet,  breaking 
through  the  deep  stillness,  rose  the  voice  of  Sister 
Rhoda  Green,  leading  in  the  hymn.  The  whole 
assembly  joined  and  sang  it  to  the  end  with  a  fervor 
that  increased  with  every  succeeding  verse. 

Many  had  come  from  mere  curiosity,  and  many 
with  light  words  on  their  lips  and  opposition  in 
their  hearts.  But  before  the  hymn  was  ended  there 
were  few  present  who  did  not  feel  strangely  moved. 
Scoffing  or  ridicule  was  in  no  man's  thought  now. 
At  the  close  of  the  hymn  Mr.  Wilder  knelt  in  the 
pulpit.  The  rustle  of  garments  and  the  noise  of 
feet,  as  men  and  women  bowed  themselves  in  prayer, 
died  away,  and  there  was  another  hush,  so  deep  that 
it  seemed  as  if  no  living  soul  was  present.  On  this 
waiting  silence  the  minister's  voice  fell,  and  every 
sentence  he  uttered,  as  he  prayed  with  and  for  the 
people,  made  a  deep  impression  upon  those  who 
heard  him. 

"  O  Lord !"  he  said,  "  thou  knowest  the  hearts  of 
those  who  are  bowed  before  thee  this  morning,  the 
sorrows  that  cloud  their  days  and  fill  their  nights 
with  weeping.  They  have  come  here  at  thy  call, 
as  they  believe,  and  now  ask  for  light  and  guidance. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  149 

It  cannot  be  that  those  who  live  among  us  by  waste 
and  destruction,  who,  like  locusts,  eat  up  every 
green  thing  that  comes  in  their  way,  are  to  go  on 
destroying  for  ever.  It  cannot  be  that  our  young 
men,  the  hope  of  society  and  the  seed  of  the  church, 
are  to  be  stricken  continually  with  this  blight  and 
mildew.  It  cannot  be  that  this  great  evil  which  is 
ruining  precious  lives,  desolating  our  fairest  homes 
and  breaking  the  hearts  of  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  helpless  wives  and  mothers  is  too 
strong  for  thy  almighty  arm ! 

"  It  cannot  be,  O  Lord  !  We  know  that  it  can 
not  be.  But  thou  workest  in  the  world  by  human 
agencies;  and  because  the  men  who  have  been 
chosen  to  make  laws  for  the  people,  and  to  see 
that  they  were  administered  for  their  good,  have 
not  had  thy  fear  before  their  eyes,  but  have  sacri 
ficed  unto  strange  gods,  causing  the  children  of 
this  people  to  pass  through  the  fire  unto  Moloch, 
has  this  terrible  thing  so  long  prevailed.  If  the 
servants  of  thy  people  had  not  shut  their  ears  to 
the  great  cry  of  agony  that  is  going  up  all  over 
the-  land,  thou  wouldest  long  ago  have  made  them 
the  instruments  of  thy  love  and  power.  But  they 
would  not  listen  to  thy  voice.  They  turned  them 


150  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

rather  to  the  men  of  Belial,  hearkening  to  their 
evil  counsels  and  doing  their  will. 

"  And  so  the  cry  is  still  before  thee,  O  Lord ! 
But  now,  moved  to  the  work  of  saving  the  people, 
other  human  agencies  are  coming  into  action.  The 
crushed,  down-trodden  and  neglected  ones  who  so 
long  sat  weeping  in  the  valley  and  the  shadow  of 
death  have  lifted  themselves  up  and  appeared  in  thy 
presence  and  said  unto  thee, '  Send  us,  O  Lord  !  and 
we  will  go !'  And  if  thou  sendest  them  clad  in 
the  armor  of  faith  and  with  the  sword  of  thy  truth 
in  their  hands,  not  all  the  powers  of  hell  shall 
stand  against  them. 

"  And  now,  O  Lord !  we  humbly  ask  of  thee 
wisdom.  Be  very  near  to  us  in  our' deliberations 
this  morning.  Make  plain  to  thy  servants  the  duty 
of  the  hour.  Speak  to  our  waiting  sisters ;  and  if 
they  can  hear  thy  still  small  voice  saying  to  them, 
'  Go  up/  they  will  go." 

There  were  few  in  the  house  who  did  not  feel,  as 
the  preacher  closed  his  prayer,  a  new  impression  of 
spiritual  power.  The  large  assemblage,  including 
even  the  most  indifferent  to  religion  and  the  most 
skeptical  in  regard  to  its  influence,  was  subdued 
and  constrained  into  a  respect  approaching  in  some 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  151 

cases  to  awe.     After  the  prayer,  Mr.  Wilder  arose 
and  said : 

"  Let  us  sing  to  the  praise  of  the  Lord  the  hymn 
on  page  eighty-four : 

"  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name, 

Let  angels  prostrate  fall ; 
Bring  forth  the  royal  diadem, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

"  Crown  him,  ye  martyrs  of  our  God, 

Who  from  his  altar  call ; 
Extol  the  stem  of  Jesse's  rod, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

"  Hail  him  the  heir  of  David's  line, 

Whom  David  Lord  did  call ; 

The  God  incarnate,  Man  divine ! 

And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

"  Ye  seed  of  Israel's  chosen  race, 

The  ransomed  of  the  fall, 
Hail  him  who  saves  you  by  his  grace, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

9 

11  Sinners,  whose  love  can  ne'er  forget 

The  wormwood  and  the  gall, 
Go  spread  your  trophies  at  his  feet, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

"  Let  every  kindred,  every  tribe, 
On  this  terrestrial  ball, 


152  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

To  him  all  ipajesty  ascribe, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all." 

Karely  has  old  "  Coronation  "  been  sung  with  the 
power  and  feeling  given  to  it  on  this  memorable 
occasion  as  the  whole  congregation  broke  in  with 
the  sweet  voice  of  Sister  Green,  rising  soft  and  clear 
on  the  hushed  air,  and  swelled  the  hymn  into  a 
grand  and  exultant  chorus. 

"  We  crown  him  Lord  of  all/7  said  the  preacher, 
in  the  deep  silence  that  followed  this  outburst  of 
praise,  "when  we  do  his  will.  He  asks  of  us  no 
honor  and  no  service  beyond  this.  You  have  come 
here  to-day,  my  sisters,  seeking  to  know  his  will, 
and  your  hearts  are  set  on  doing  that  will  if  he  but 
make  it  known  unto  you.  And  he  is  making  it 
known  in  visible  manifestations  of  his  power  on 
the  right  hand  and  on  the  left.  And  these  mani 
festations  have  come  in  response  to  prayer.  How 
it  is  that  prayer  gives  such  marvelous  results  let 
us  now  consider,  so  that  we  may  not  fall  into  the 
mistake  of  some  who  believe  that  God  waits  for  us 
poor,  blind,  ignorant,  self-seeking  sinners  to  ask 
him  to  bless  and  save  the  world  before  he  will  do 
it.  That  is  not  so.  He  is  full  of  tender  mercy  and 
loving-kindness,  and  is  ever  seeking  to  save  that 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  153 

which  was  lost.  But  in  the  spiritual  as  well  as  in 
the  natural  world  all  forces  are  determined  by  laws 
of  order,  and  only  when  these  laws  are  made  opera 
tive  can  the  forces  act.  We  can  all  understand  how, 
when  we  go  to  God  and  humbly  ask  him  to  help 
and  guide  us  when  surrounded  by  difficulties,  this 
very  submission  of  ourselves  to  his  divine  will  may 
bring  us  into  a  state  to  receive  the  graces  of  his 
spirit — patience,  self-denial,  love  of  the  neighbor — 
and  so  make  it  possible  for  our  loving  Father  to 
remove  from  our  way  the  obstructions  that  were 
needed  for  discipline.  Not  simply  because  we  asked 
him  for  help  did  he  send  it,  but  because  our  asking 
brought  us  into  a  new  spiritual  condition  and  made 
it  possible  for  him  to  answer  our  prayer,  and  make 
the  answer  a  blessing  and  not  a  curse.  We  all 
know  by  many  discouraging  experiences  that  our 
prayers  do  not  always  receive  the  answers  we  long 
for,  and  yet  we  know  also  that  whenever  we  go 
to  God  and  humbly  pray  to  him  he  sends  rest 
and  peace  into  our  hearts,  even  in  the  midst  of 
direst  troubles,  and  gives  us  patience  and  strength. 
A  blessing  always  follows  prayer,  a  blessing  to  our 
souls,  though  our  special  requests  be  denied. 

"  But  the  question  that  most  interests  us  to-day 


154  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

is,  How  do  our  prayers  affect  others  ?.  God  cannot 
convert  a  soul  simply  because  we  ask  him  to  do  it. 
An  evil  man  must  turn  from  the  evil  of  his  ways, 
and  that  of  his  own  volition,  before  God  can  heal 
him.  The  prayers  of  a  mother  may  and  often  do 
work  marvelously  with  the  children  of  her  love, 
not  because  the  Spirit  of  God  begins  to  strive  with 
them  in  answer  to  her  prayer,  for  the  Spirit  of  God 
is  ever  striving  with  the  children  of  men  and  seek 
ing  to  turn  them  from  evil  to  good,  but  because,  in 
the  world  where  our  spirits  dwell,  there  is  an  atmo 
sphere  on  which  love  and  thought  move,  passing 
from  one  soul  to  another  as  freely  as  light  and  sound 
pass  in  the  air  of  this  outer  world.  And  when  a 
mother  prays  for  her  children,  her  thought  and  love, 
burdened  with  solicitude  and  potent  with  heavenly 
affections,  penetrate  their  souls  and  impress  them 
with  her  states  of  reverence  for  God  and  a  sense  of 
his  loving  presence.  Thus,  when  a  pious  mother 
prays  fervently  for  her  wandering  boy,  her  heart 
goes  out  after  him  with  all  its  affections  quickened 
by  a  diviner  tenderness  than  burns  in  any  human 
love,  and  her  thought  reaches  him.  Under  its 
pressure  upon  his  consciousness,  memory  is  quick 
ened.  He  thinks  of  his  mother,  and  then  some  lov- 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  155 

ing  angel,  perceiving  his  better  state  of  mind,  may 
bring  to  his  remembrance  the  innocent  days  of 
childhood,  showing  him  the  face  of  his  mother, 
sweet  and  serious,  as  she  once  bent  over  him  listen 
ing  to  his  evening  devotions.  So  God  can  reach 
him  through  his  mother's  prayers.  Pray  for  your 
children,  mothers,  for  your  husbands,  wives,  and,  all 
Christian  men  and  women,  for  those  who  are  near 
and  dear  to  you,  and  so  become  God's  instruments 
in  their  salvation.  Brethren  and  sisters,  as  God 
liveth,  your  prayers  shall  not  be  in  vain." 

Here  Mr.  Wilder  paused  for  a  few  moments  to 
let  the  minds  of  his  audience  take  rest.  Then  he 
resumed,  speaking  more  calmly  : 

"  But  how  can  our  prayers  affect  those  to  whom 
we  cannot  come  near  in  thought  and  love,  as  in  the 
case  of  a  mother  and  her  children,  and  with  those 
between  whom  and  ourselves  there  is  a  bond  of  love 
or  some  other  spiritual  relationship?  Can  we,  by 
prayer  in  our  churches  or  in  our  closets,  turn  the 
hearts'  of  the  men  who  are  scattering  disease  and 
death  among  our  people,  and  cause  them  to  repent 
and  cease  to  do  this  great  evil  ?  I  think  not.  I 
am  unable  to  see  any  element  of  power  in  such 
prayers,  at  least  so  far  as  these  men  are  concerned. 


156  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

If  God  could  have  caused  them  to  repent  and  turn 
from  their  evil  ways,  he  would  have  done  it  long 
ago.  He  would  not  have  waited  these  many  dreary 
years,  seeing  hundreds  of  victims  go  down  to  death 
and  hell,  and  never  put  forth  his  hand.  No,  my 
friends.  He  has  not  been  waiting  for  prayers  at 
home  and  in  the  sanctuary,  but  for  prayers  that 
shall  reach  the  ears  and  penetrate  the  hearts  and 
consciences  of  those  prayed  for.  By  such  prayers 
he  can  work.  Marvelous  things  is  he  doing  in 
sister  towns  through  the  agency  of  such  prayers, 
and  marvelous  things  will  he  do  here  if  we  set  the 
same  great  agencies  at  work. 

"  But  shall  we  not  pray  here  and  at  home  that 
God  would  remove  from  among  us  this  abomina 
tion  of  desolation?  Surely,  yea!  But  to  what 
end,  you  ask,  if  such  prayers  can  do  nothing  toward 
turning  these  men  from  their  work  of  destruction  ? 
For  the  sake  of  ourselves  and  the  instrumentalities 
that  such  prayers  will  bring  into  life  I  make 
answer.  Let  the  people  assemble  every  day  in  all 
the  churches  in  Delhi  and  invoke  God's  blessing 
on  this  work,  and  then  God  will  fill  their  hearts 
with  a  desire  to  see  it  go  on  to  complete  success, 
and  that  desire  will  quicken  thought,  and  thought 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  157 

will  leap  into  action.  Every  Christian  man  in  Delhi 
will  become  a  centre  of  influence.  He  will  talk 
of  the  evil  in  our  midst,  and  show  forth  its  magni 
tude.  From  heart  to  heart  and  mind  to  mind  a 
gracious  impulse  will  go.  We  shall  have  a  new 
public  sentiment.  Oh,  friends,  Christian  people, 
pray  everywhere,  and  without  ceasing,  that  this 
curse  shall  be  lifted  from  our  town.  But  fail  not 
to  pray  where  the  influence  of  prayer  is  most 
needed.  The  stronghold  must  be  assaulted  and 
taken  if  we  would  conquer  the  enemy." 

Men  who  had  no  faith  in  prayer  held  their 
breaths  while  the  minister  expounded,  in  his  care 
ful  speech,  the  true  sources  of  its  power.  And 
others  who  had  smiled  or  jested,  or  sneered  at  the 
praying  women  of  whom  they  read,  took  his  words 
to  heart  and  pondered  them  deeply.  They  saw 
something  more  than  they  had  dreamed  of  in  the 
remarkable  results  that  everywhere  followed  the 
instrumentality  of  prayer  offered  to  God  in  purity 
of  heart,  and  under  forms  of  expression  that  touched 
the  feelings  of  the  men  who  heard,  and  set  their 
thoughts  in  new  directions. 

"  But  I  have  said  enough,"  added  Mr.  Wilder. 
"  The  meeting  has  been  called  at  the  request  of 


158  WOMAN  TO   THE  EESCUE. 

many  suffering  women  who,  despairing  of  help  in 
man,  come  now  to  God  in  his  sanctuary  asking 
him  to  show  them  a  way  of  escape,  and  to  give 
them  the  strength  and  the  courage  needed  to  walk 
therein.  It  is  their  meeting,  and  I  now  nominate 
Sister  Rhoda  Green  for  the  chair.  All  in  favor  of 
this  nomination  will  say,  I."  Every  voice  ap 
proved.  Then  Sister  Green  arose,  and  coming 
forward  stood  up  in  the  chancel.  She  was  a 
woman  of  over  sixty  years  of  age,  a  little  above  the 
medium  height,  looking  taller  than  she  really  was 
because  of  her  slender  physique.  Her  face  was 
almost  classic  in  outline,  and  her  mouth,  whenever 
she  spoke,  sweet  and  tender,  but  serious  even  to 
sadness  when  at  rest.  Her  eyes  were  large  and 
dark,  her  face  pale  almost  to  whiteness  and  her 
hair  gray  and  glossy  like  spun  glass.  The  saintli- 
ness  of  her  pure  soul,  tried  and  purified  as  silver 
in  the  crucible,  shone  through  the  revealing  tissues 
of  her  beautiful  countenance.  She  seemed,  as  she 
stood  up  in  the  chancel  that  morning,  a  messenger 
from  heaven.  And  so  she  was. 

"  Dear  friends,"  she  said,  and  her  voice,  so  clear 
and  calm  and  full  of  womanly  sweetness,  thrilled 
the  hearts  of  all  present  as  it  rose  upon  the  silent 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  159 

air.  "  This  is  no  common  occasion.  Never  in  the 
history  of  our  town  has  there  been  an  assemblage 
of  the  people  so  burdened  with  momentous  conse 
quences  as  this.  There  is  an  evil  among  us  of  such 
a  malignant  and  fatal  character  that  all  other  evils 
in  the  catalogue  of  human  woes  grow  dwarfed  in 
its  presence.  If  scarlet  fever  attack  our  children, 
it  may  bear  them  down  to  the  grave,  or  it  may  leave 
them  deaf  or  with  some  life-long  physical  infirmity, 
but  it  cannot  touch  their  moral  sense;  it  cannot 
debase  them  to  a  level  lower  than  the  brute ;  it  can 
not  destroy  their  souls.  Not  so  this  evil  thing  of 
which  I  speak.  Under  its  power  all  that  is  true 
and  good  and  pure  in  our  beloved  ones  is  consumed 
by  a  very  fire  from  hell.  Bodily  health,  filial  love, 
spiritual  life,  all  shrivel  up  and  vanish  away.  We 
see  them  wasting  before  our  eyes,  in  body  and  soul, 
under  the  curse  of  a  marasmus  more  exhausting  and 
malignant  than  any  the  world  has  known. 

"Up  to  this  time,  year  after  year,  the  awful 
scourge  of  which  I  speak  has  been  rapidly  increas 
ing  in  Delhi,  and  no  man's  hand  has  been  put  forth 
to  stay  its  dreadful  ravages.  In  vain  have  we, 
heart-breaking  and  heart-broken  mothers,  reached 
out  our  hands,  and  with  streaming  eyes  prayed  that 


160  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

something  might  be  done  to  save  our  children.  In 
vain  have  our  stricken  wives  and  sisters,  too  many 
of  whom  now  sit  sorrowing  in  broken  and  desolate 
homes,  pleaded  for  their  husbands  and  brothers. 
We  might  as  well  have  cried  to  deaf  adders.  The 
spell  as  of  some  great  sorcerer  is  upon  the  people. 
Think  of  it,  dear  friends !  There  are  in  Delhi  five 
thousand  souls — precious  and  immortal  souls,  sent 
into  the  world  that  they  might  be  good  and  happy — 
and  there  are  in  Delhi  thirty  men  who  for  the  love 
of  money  are  busily  at  work  night  and  day  in 
destroying  the  image  of  God  in  these  immortal 
souls,  in  sowing  among  us  the  seeds  of  that  malig 
nant  and  fatal  disease  to  which  I  have  just  referred. 
And  the  people  of  Delhi  go  quietly  about  their 
business  heedless  of  this  terrible  work ;  or  if  some 
upon  whom  the  curse  falls  sorest,  cry  out  in  their 
agony  and  in  desperate  excitement  demand  the  sup 
pression  of  a  traffic  that  injures  all  and  blesses  none, 
law  lifts  up  its  cold,  hard  hand  and  shakes  it  in  their 
faces,  saying,  '  Stand  back  !  Keep  off !  These  men 
have  vested  rights,  and  their  interest  may  not  be 
touched/ 

"  Vested  rights  !    The  right  to  scatter  sorrow  and 
sickness,  despair   and    death,  among  the  people! 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  161 

Think  of  it!  Thirty  men  holding  these  rights,  and 
the  people  without  remedy  !  Thirty  men  who  fear 
not  God  nor  regard  man  commissioned  to  sow 
crime  and  death  that  they  may  reap  a  harvest  of 
money ! 

"Bear  with  me  for  a  few  minutes  while  I  give 
you,  in  language  far  better  than  I  can  frame,  a 
description  of  the  enemy  we  have  in  our  midst.  It 
is  by  the  president  of  one  of  our  colleges,  who  has 
had  large  opportunity  to  know  of  what  he  speaks. 
He  says  " — and  Sister  Green  read  from  a  paper  that 
she  held  in  her  hand — 

"  As  a  foe  to  all  the  social  interests  of  men  there 
Is  no  other  to  be  compared  with  this,  no  other  that 
wars  so  ruthlessly  upon  home  and  all  that  sacred 
circle  of  interests  of  which  home  is  the  centre. 
Back  of  all  its  visible  ravages,  and  deeper  than  all 
these,  there  lies  a  field  of  devastation  which  has 
never  been  fully  explored  and  can  never  be  more 
than  partially  reported.  It  is  the  wasted  realm  of 
the  social  affections,  the  violated  sanctuary  of 
domestic  peace.  From  the  under-world  of  sup 
pressed  wretchedness  the^e  comes  up  to  the  ear  of 
human  pity  many  a  piercing  cry  of  those  who 

writhe  under  the  slow  torments  of  a  desolate  heart 
11 


162  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

and  dying  hope.  Yet  all  this  which  meets  the  eye 
and  pains  the  ear  is  but  the  overflow  of  misery ; 
this  is  what  inadvertently  escapes  through  chasms 
violently  rent  open,  and  it  tells  sadly  of  the  sea  of 
anguish  that  is  stilled  for  ever  in  its  secret  recesses. 
"  Within  this  sphere  of  social  devastation  the 
curse  of  drink  has  a  twofold  operation,  the  unseen 
and  the  seen,  the  process  and  the  result.  The  first 
lies  in  that  vast  amount  of  untold  and  unutterable 
wretchedness  which  is  carefully  hidden,  so  long  as 
concealment  is  possible,  within  the  bosom  of  multi 
tudes  of  families  which  the  destroyer  has  entered 
and  marked  for  his  own.  As  yet  his  victory  is 
incomplete.  His  victim  has  not  yet  shaken  off  all 
the  restraints  of  affection,  nor  burst  through  the 
barriers  of  reserve  and  shame.  He  yet  cleaves,  with 
a  sensitiveness  that  is  very  significant,  to  his  shat 
tered  remnant  of  character.  And  others  within 
that  smitten  home  are  still  more  fondly  concealing 
the  terrible  change.  Theirs  is  a  wretchedness  of 
which  the  world  must  not  know,  for  it  has  in  it  the 
stain  of  shame.  The  keenest  inflictions  are  perhaps 
those  which  attend  the  incipient  stages  of  ruin. 
Perhaps  no  after-pang  will  ever  distress  the  heart 
like  that  which  comes  with  the  first  conviction  that 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  163 

the  love  of  drink  has  gained  the  mastery  over  the 
beloved  one.  And  from  that  point  onward  through 
all  the  unrecorded  history  of  a  drunkard's  progress, 
as  seen  and  felt  within  the  circle  of  those  who  love 
him,  there  is  a  bitterness  of  anguish  which  can  be 
fully  conceived  only  by  those  who  have  tasted  the 
cup  for  themselves.  To  those  without  that  circle 
there  may  be  little  to  awake  suspicion  of  the  torture 
that  is  going  on  beneath  the  surface.  It  is  not  till 
the  heart  is  consumed  within  them,  not  till  despair 
has  grown  familiar  and  the  whole  hidden  process 
of  deprivation  has  reached  its  maturity,  that  the 
result  comes  forth  to  the  surface  and  shows  itself  to 
the  eyes  of  men.  It  is  done  in  silence  and  secresy, 
almost  before  we  dreamed  of  it. 

"  From  this  point  the  work  is  open  and  appalling 
indeed.  Concealment  is  no  longer  sought,  for  it  is 
felt  to  be  no  longer  either  possible  or  of  any  avail. 
The  fire  burned  long  repressed  and  slowly  eating 
away  every  support  within ;  now  it  has  burst  through 
and  taken  air,  and  the  whole  pile  is  ready  to  collapse 
in  hopeless  conflagration ;  and  why  should  there  be 
any  further  attempt  at  concealment? 

"And  now  look  at  the  visible  results  of  the 
traffic  on  all  the  dearest  interests  of  mankind. 


164  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

Look  at  its  handiwork  as  written  out  in  woe  and 
desolation  on  the  whole  face  of  society.  Look  on 
these  innumerable  hearts  that  have  long  silently 
bled  over  the  ruin  of  all  their  dearest  hopes,  till 
they  can  bleed  in  silence  no  more.  Myriads  of  such 
still  sigh  among  the  living,  and  many — oh  how 
many ! — myriads  have  hidden  their  crushed  and 
weary  hearts  in  the  grave.  See  it  yearly  beggaring 
multitudes  of  families,  quenching  the  light  of  many 
thousand  homes  in  anguish  and  despair.  Read  the 
character  and  deserts  of  this  traffic  in  the  air  of 
thriftlessness  and  dilapidation  which  it  is  every  year 
spreading  over  a  countless  number  of  once  prosper 
ous  and  happy  homes,  read  it  in  the  depravation 
of  character,  the  growing  sottishness,  of  its  victims, 
fallen  from  the  sphere  of  hope  and  virtue  and  love, 
and  pushed  rapidly  through  a  career  of  shame  and 
sin  toward  graves  of  infamy.  How  many  such, 
with  those  that  love  them  still,  are  even  now  hiding 
their  misery  in  obscure  and  comfortless  hovels ! 
How  these  sad  refuges  of  the  once  happy  and  hope 
ful  stare  upon  the  traveler  along  all  the  highways 
and  byways  of  our  State !  How  they  thicken 
within  the  broad  circuit  that  is  swept  by  the  influ 
ence  of  some  den  of  drink  !  Could  the  map  of  our 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  165 

State  be  so  drawn  as  to  present  a  full  picture  of  its 
social  condition,  and  reveal  to  us,  as  we  gazed  on  it, 
all  these  drink-ruined  families,  strown  in  their  des 
olate  huts  over  all  its  surface — could  it  be  made 
transparent  also,  so  as  to  reveal  the  burdens  of 
grief  that  are  hidden  in  these  homes,  the  bursting 
hearts  of  parents  for  their  ruined  sons,  of  wives 
from  whose  life  all  joy  and  hope,  all  tenderness  and 
comfort,  have  been  blotted  out,  of  children  shame- 
crushed  and  doomed  to  penury  and  disgrace — could 
we  thus  look  on  all  these  stricken  families,  once 
affluent  and  respected,  now  doomed  to  meanness  and 
want,  each  with  its  own  peculiar  history  of  sorrow, — 
we  should  ask  no  further  witness  to  the  heinous 
guilt  of  the  traffic. 

"Is  this  an  exaggeration?"  said  Sister  Green, 
dropping  the  hand  with  which  she  had  held  the 
paper  and  looking  out  over  the  still  and  breathless 
assembly.  She  stood  silent  for  several  moments. 

"  And  men  tell  us  that  there  is  no  remedy — that 
the  State  legalizes  the  traffic,  and  must  protect  it 
against  all  interference !  But,  my  stricken  and  sor 
rowing  sisters,  there  is  a  remedy,  thank  God!" 

The  voice  of  Sister  Green  rang  out  clear  and 
strong,  sending  a  thrill  to  the  heart  of  every  one. 


166  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"  In  vain  for  years  have  we  called  in  our  anguish 
upon  men;  in  vain  for  years  have  we  trusted  in 
men ;  hope  and  confidence  are  gone.  Men  are  not 
strong  enough,  on  their  own  confession,  to  cope  with 
this  enemy,  which  they  have  not  only  hedged  about 
with  protective  laws,  but  given  a  license  to  break 
law  in  order  that  they  may  for  greater  gain  more 
terribly  afflict  the  people.  The  law  says  that  they 
shall  not  continue  their  deadly  work  on  the  holy 
Sabbath,  but  on  each  Lord's  day  the  door  of  every 
saloon  in  Delhi  stands  open  and  the  traffic  goes 
on.  The  law  says  that  they  shall  not  sell  drink  to 
minors,  and  yet  our  youth  are  corrupted  and  the 
hearts  of  our  mothers  broken  over  the  ruin  of  their 
boys.  The  law  says  that  no  one  shall  be  permitted 
to  sell  liquor  who  does  not  keep  a  regular  house  of 
entertainment  provided  with  beds  for  the  accommo 
dation  of  guests,  and  yet,  out  of  the  thirty  drinking- 
places  in  Delhi,  there  are  but  nine  that  even  pre 
tend  to  be  taverns  in  the  common  meaning  of  the 
term. 

"  What  hope  is  there  in  man  ?  None — none,  my 
long-suffering  sisters.  He  is  stronger  than  we  are, 
and  calls  himself  wiser.  He  holds  the  reins  of 
government,  he  creates  all  the  laws  and  takes  charge 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  167 

of  their  administration.    Good  or  evil,  we  can  only 
submit.  f 

"  But  under  the  rule  which  has  left  us  helpless 
in  the  hands  of  men  in  whose  hearts  there  is  no 
pity  our  sorrows  have  so  multiplied  that  we  can 
bear  them  no  longer,  and  in  the  bitterness  of  our 
despair  in  man  we  turn  to  God,  who  is  a  present 
help  in  every  time  of  trouble,  and  he  will  deliver  us. 
But  not  if  we  sit  idle  at  home,  my  sisters. 

"'Sure  I  must  fight  if  I  would  reign; 

Increase  my  courage,  Lord ! 
I'll  bear  the  cross,  endure  the  pain, 
Supported  by  thy  word.' 

"  We  must  gird  up  our  loins  for  the  battle.  We 
must  take  the  sword  of  prayer  and  stand  face  to 
face  with  our  enemy.  God  will  surely  give  us 
the  victory.  Let  me  in  your  name  thank  Brother 
Wilder  for  setting  before  us  so  beautifully  the  na 
ture  and  power  of  prayer.  We  all  see  clearer  now, 
and  in  moving  upon  our  common  foe — as  move  we 
shall — we'll  know  our  advantage  and  understand 
the  right  use  of  our  weapons. 

"  Pardon  me  for  having  held  you  so  long,  but  I 
am  in  such  intense  earnest  about  this  matter  that 


168  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

heart  and  thought  run  over  and  carry  me  away  in 
speech." 

As  the  speaker  sat  down  Mrs.  Judge  Hanson 
arose.  She  was  a  woman  nearly  as  old  as  Mrs. 
Green,  and  had  a  dignified  presence.  She  was  well 
known  in  Delhi  for  her  public  spirit  and  her  many 
charities.  Intelligent  and  possessing  great  decision 
of  character,  she  generally  took  a  leading  position 
in  anything  that  required  concerted  action.  All 
knew  her  to  be  a  sufferer  from  the  curse  of 
intemperance.  The  judge  was  a  hard  drinker 
and  had  wasted  much  of  his  property,  and  they 
were  now  living  very  humbly  as  compared  with 
their  condition  a  few  years  back.  She  said,  on 
rising* 

"As  Sister  Green  has  thanked  Brother  Wilder 
in  your  name  for  his  clear  elucidation  of  the  nature 
and  power  of  prayer,  let  me  thank  Sister  Green  in 
your  name  also  for  her  grand  indictment  of  our 
enemy  and  his  abettors  as  well.  We  know  now 
just  where  we  stand  and  wherein  lies  our  hope, 
and  will  no  longer  wait  for  an  arm  of  flesh.  What 
I  now  desire  to  counsel  is  calmness  and  prudence. 
Let  us  not  go  forward  until  we  are  ready.  We 
want*  the  'fullest  possible  concert  of  action.*  We 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  169 

\vant  every  wife  and  mother  and  sister  in  town 
enrolled  for  duty  in  this  warfare.  If  all  are  not 
able  to  take  the  field  and  stand  face  to  face  with 
the  enemy,  no  matter.  We  must  have  homeguards 
and  purveyors,  and  those  have  duties  in  camp  as 
well  as  in  the  van  of  battle.  We  want  all  the 
women  in  Delhi  enlisted  in  this  cause.  And  we 
want  the  men  to  have  a  better  understanding  of 
the  issue  between  us  and  the  whisky-sellers,  and 
if  they  will  not  help  us  in  our  crusade  to  stand 
off  and  give  us  the  advantage  of  a  fair  conflict. 
And  so  I  move  that  this  meeting  recommend  the 
assembling  to-morrow  morning  at  nine  o'clock  in 
all  our  churches  of  their  respective  congregations, 
and  that  each  of  these  meetings  appoint  a  com 
mittee  of  three  of  their  best  and  wisest  women  to 
meet  in  the  evening  in  Brother  Wilder's  church 
for  the  arrangement  of  a  plan  that  shall  ensure  the 
most  efficient  concert  of  action. 

"  I  also  move  that  a  committee  of  five  be  ap 
pointed  to  notify  the  clergymen  of  each  of  these 
churches  of  the  passage  of  this  resolution,  and  to 
request  them  to  have  their  bells  rung  at  precisely 
nine  o'clock  to-morrow  morning.". 

Sister  Green  offered  these  resolutions,  when  they 


170  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

were  adopted  unanimously  amid  many  exhibitions 
of  enthusiasm. 

Then,  after  singing  the  doxology, 

"  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow," 
the  meeting  adjourned. 


CHAPTER  X. 

rPHREE  or  four  saloon-keepers  were  present  at 
-*-  this  meeting. 

"What  do  you  think  of  all  this?"  said  one, 
speaking  to  the  other,  as  they  walked  away  with 
soberer  faces  than  when  they  came. 

"I  don't  just  like  the  look  of  it,"  was  the 
answer. 

"  Nor  do  I.     It  means  business." 

"I  should  think  it  did.  D'you  know,  Dan,  I 
felt  awful  mean  while  that  woman  was  speaking, 
and  actually  held  down  my  head.  My !  but  didn't 
she  give  us  Jesse  ?" 

"  Didn't  she,  though?  If  all  she  made  us  out  to 
be  is  really  so,  we're  rather  a  scaly  set." 

"  We  don't  pretend  to  be  the  salt  of  the  earth." 

"  It  wouldn't  take  a  very  long  time  for  every 
thing  in  it  to  spoil  if  we  were  the  salt,  ha? 
Would  it?" 

And  the  speaker  twisted  his  face  awry. 

"  But  see  here,- Dan  Harker,"  said  his  companion, 

171 


172  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

growing  more  serious.  "  What  are  we  going  to  do 
about  this  business  ?  If  the  women  have  their  way, 
they'll  run  us  out,  sure." 

"They'll  never  run  me  out/''  replied  Harker, 
who  had  one  of  the  best-paying  saloons  in  the 
place.  "  My  pile  isn't  big  enough  yet.  They  may 
sing  and  pray  and  preach  till  they  grow  deaf  and 
blind.  It's  all  the  same  to  me.  I  never  was 
driven  to  do  a  thing  in  my  life,  and  I  never  mean 
to  be." 

"  But  if  I  understand  the  way  they  do  these 
things,  Dan,  it  isn't  just  driving,  but  praying  and 
singing  and  persuading.  They  talk  good  and  try 
to  make  us  see  the  harm  we're  doing.  The  poor 
half-starving  wives  come  along  with  the  praying 
women  and  join  with  them  in  imploring  us  to  quit 
the  business,  that  their  husbands  may  be  saved. 
Now,  you  see,  that's  rather  salty.  And  then  again, 
Dan,  these  women  are  not  the  mere  riff-raff  of  the 
town.  I  saw  the  wives  and  daughters  of  our  best 
men  there;  and  if  they  go  into  this  thing  heart 
and  soul,  their  husbands  and  fathers  are  bound  to 
stand  by  them." 

"  Well,  suppose  they  do  ?  My  house  is  my 
castle,  and  all  the  husbands  and  fathers  in  Delhi, 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  173 

with  their  praying  and  psalm-singing  wives  into 
the  bargain,  can't  turn  me  out  if  I  don't  wish  to 
go.  My  business  is  just  as  lawful  as  that  of  Jones 
the  tailor  or  Fink  the  hatter.  I  hold  a  license 
from  the  State,  and  there  isn't  force  enough  in  all 
this  town  to  shut  the  doors  of  my  saloon  if  I 
choose  to  keep  it  open." 

"  Don't  be  too  sure  of  that,  Dan.  You  noticed 
what  Mrs.  Green  said  about  our  licenses.  Not  one 
in  ten  of  the  people  here  knows  anything  about 
the  license  law.  If  its  strict  letter  were  enforced, 
you  and  I  would  be  out  in  the  cold  instead  of  in 
our  cosy  saloons  heaping  up  our  pile." 

The  confident  look  went  out  of  Harker's  face. 

"  It  isn't  going  to  be  a  simple  scare,  mark  my 
word  for  it,  Dan.  We're  in  for  a  fight,  and  a 
desperate  one,  too.  Did  you  read  in  this  morning's 
Eagle  about  the  excitement  in  Xenia — how  every 
family  in  town  was  identified  with  the  crusade,  as 
they  call  it,  and  every  woman  giving  it  her  cordial 
support  ?" 

" No ;  I  haven't  seen  the  Eagle"  replied  Harker. 

"Really!  then  there's  a  bit  of  news  that  will 
surprise  you.  Here,  let's  go  into  Barney  Dare's 
and  look  at  his  morning  paper." 


174  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

The  two  men  crossed  the  street  and  entered  a 
saloon  on  the  opposite  side. 

"Got  the  •-£##&,  Barney?"  said  one  of  them, 
addressing  a  sallow  little  man  who  was  mixing  a 
glass  of  liquor. 

Dare  pointed  to  one  of  the  tables  in  the  room. 
Dan  Harker  and  his  companion  sat  down  at  this 
table,  and  the  latter  opened  the  paper  and  ran  his 
eyes  along  the  columns. 

"  Here  it  is.     Just  listen ;"  and  he  read : 

"  The  excitement  in  Xenia  is  more  intense  than 
ever.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  five  hundred  ladies 
were  in  the  streets  to-day  engaged  in  the  laudable 
work.  The  saloon-keepers  are  relenting,  and  more 
of  them  are  permitting  the  ladies  to  hold  prayers 
in  their  saloons.77 

"  What  ?"  interrupted  Harker.  "  Relenting ! 
They  must  be  a  white-livered  set." 

"  Hundreds  are  signing  the  pledge,"  continued 
the  other,  reading  on.  "One  old  man  who  has 
been  a  hard  drinker  for  many  years  said,  as  he 
signed  the  pledge,  '  'Twon't  do  any  good — I  can't 
reform  ;  but  for  God's  sake  save  the  boys/  " 

(i  That  was  a  sockdolager,"  remarked  the  reader 
as  he  let  the  paper  rest  upon  the  table.  "  That's 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  175 

the  sort  o'  thing  that  tells — worth  a  million  of 
sermons  and  prayers.  Now,  as  for  the  boys,  it's  all 
wrong  to  sell  'em  liquor.  I  never  do  if  I  know 
their  ages,  but  we've  plenty  in  the  business  that 
don't  care  a  cuss  who  calls  for  a  dram ,  if  he's  got 
the  money  to  pay  for  it.  It's  all  wrong,  but  every 
trade  has  its  scalawags,  you  know.  Now,  just 
listen  to  this ;"  and  he  lifted  the  paper  and  read  on  : 

"There  are  four  praying  bands  in  the  streets, 
each  numbering  about  fifty  ladies,  while  small 
parties  are  visiting  families  by  invitation.  A  band 
of  little  girls  are  in  the  street  singing  temper 
ance  songs  with  thrilling  effect.  This  afternoon  a 
saloon  known  as  the  ( Shades  of  Death,'  one  of  the 
worst  places  in  the  city,  threw  open  its  doors,  and 
the  proprietor  invited  the  ladies  to  enter." 

"  Bah !"  exclaimed  Harker,  in  a  tone  of  disgust. 

"  After  prayer  he  took  the  ladies  by  the  hand — " 

"  Faugh  !  I've  no  patience  with  the  thing." 

"And  thanked  them  that  they  had  influenced 
him  to  abandon  the  traffic — " 

"  Oh !  oh  dear!  oh !"  ejaculated  Harker,  in  jeering 
contempt. 

"Don't  go  off  the  handle,  Dan.  Keep  cool. 
There's  more  coming.  Now,  brace  yourself:  And 


176  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

then  with  his  own  hands  he  rolled  his  liquors  into 
the  street,  and  smashed  in  the  heads  of  the  barrels 
and  kegs,  and  let  mother  earth  drink  up  the 
poison." 

Dan  Harker,  with  an  oath  on  his  lips,  got  up 
hastily  and  strode  across  the  bar-room,  then  came 
back  and  sat  down  beside  his  companion : 

"If  that  don't  beat  the  devil,  I'm  a  fool! 
Smashed  in  the  heads  of  his  barrels  ?" 

"Yes,  smashed  'em  in.  That's  just  what  it 
says." 

"  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it.    I  swear  I  don't." 

u  You'd  better  believe.  It's  all  told  here  as 
straight  as  a  line.  But  I'm  not  done  yet :  A  scene 
of  great  excitement  followed.  The  news  spread 
with  lightning  rapidity,  and  in  fifteen  minutes  the 
streets  were  swarming  with  citizens.  Songs  of 
gladness  filled  the  air,  hands  were  shaken,  prayers 
were  offered  up,  and  finally  the  multitude  spon 
taneously  struck  up  that  grandest  of  songs,  '  Praise 
God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.' " 

"  A  mere  stubble  fire,"  said  Dan  Harker.  The 
sneer  had  faded  away  from  his  lips  and  his  coun 
tenance  had  become  more  serious. 

"  But  hot  while  it  lasts,"  returned  his  companion. 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  177 

"  That  l  Shades  of  Death '  fellow  must  have  been 
scorched  pretty  badly  to  give  up  as  he  did  after 
that  fashion." 

"Oh,  he  wasn't  anybody,"  replied  Harker,  con 
temptuously.  "  If  he  hadn't  pluck  enough  to  stand 
the  women,  why  didn't  he  close  up  and  cart  his 
goods  off  to  some  other  town  where  people  mind  their 
own  business?  But  to  waste  good  liquor  after  that 
fashion  was  simply  contemptible.  The  man  was  a 
fool." 

"  Fool  or  no  fool,  he  couldn't  stand  the  praying 
women.  And,  what  is  more,  he  isn't  the  only  one 
who  has  caved  in.  They're  doing  it  in  more  places 
than  I  can  count  on  my  ten  fingers,  and  hundreds 
of  saloon-keepers  who  were  piling  up  money  three 
or  four  weeks  ago  are  out  of  business  and  sucking 
their  thumbs  to-day.  No  use  getting  excited  or 
growling  over  it.  Fact  is  fact,  and  we  can't  make 
anything  else  out  of  it." 

"Oh,  you  were  always  easily  scared,"  was  the 
answer  to  this.  "  But  I'm  not  afraid.  If  there's 
going  to  be  a  fight  here,  one  man  is  ready  for  the 
fray,  and  that  man  is  Daniel  Harker.  When  he 
shows  the  white  feather,  the  women's  war  in  Delhi 

will  be  over." 
12 


178  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"  Do  you  want  to  buy  me  out  ?"  asked  the  other. 
"Til  sell  cheap." 

"What  will  you  take?" 

"  Cost  of  stock  and  fixtures,  good-will  for  nothing. 
Tip-top  run  of  custom." 

"  Pshaw,  Phil !  you're  not  in  earnest  ?" 

"  Try  me.  Make  your  bid,  and  we  won't  stand 
on  a  little  discount." 

"What's  that  you're  talking  about?"  asked 
Barney  Dare,  coming  over  to  the  table  where  the 
two  men  sat  talking. 

"  Phil  Grubb  wants  to  sell  out.  Do  you  know 
of  any  one  who'd  like  to  get  a  first-rate  stand  ?" 
replied  Harker. 

"Sellout!     What  for?" 

"He's  scared." 

"  What  about  ?" 

"  Afraid  of  the  crusaders." 

"  Ho,  ho,  ho !"  laughed  the  little  man,  putting 
his  hands  to  his  sides  and  bending  forward  to  give 
his  merriment  greater  freedom.  "  These  praying 
women,  you  mean?" 

"  Yes." 

Then  Mr.  Dare  straightened  himself  up  and  pro 
ceeded  to  give  his  opinion  of  the  women  and  the 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  179 

new  business  upon  which  they  had  entered.  We 
would  like  to  record  that  opinion  here,  but  it  was 
delivered  in  forms  of  language  so  striking  and 
peculiar  as  to  make  it  unfitted  for  our  pages,  and 
so  the  speech  will  have  to  go  unreported.  It  was 
received  with  marked  approval  by  most  of  the 
men  present.  Phil  Grubb  looked  a  little  shame 
faced,  but  the  tirade  of  Barney  Dare  did  not  put 
any  more  confidence  into  his  heart. 

"Within  an  hour  the  sayings  and  doings  at  Mr. 
Wilder's  church  were  reported  and  discussed  in  all 
the  bar-rooms  in  town.  Put  on  what  bravado  he 
would,  every  saloon-keeper  had  a  feeling  of  uneasi 
ness  and  insecurity.  Two  or  three  of  the  principal 
and  "  most  respectable  "  of  these  good  citizens  called 
upon  the  authorities,  and  asked  for  legal  interference 
in  case  an  effort  was  made  to  obstruct  their  business. 
They  did  not  get  the  outspoken  assurances  of  pro 
tection  "  in  their  vested  rights  "  that  they  desired. 
Men  in  office  are  not  indifferent  to  public  sentiment, 
and  it  was  manifest  in  the  very  commencement  of 
this  movement  that  the  majority  of  the  people  would 
give  it  their  countenance  and  support. 

The  handful  of  men  in  Delhi  to  whose  interests 
all  other  interests  had  been  so  long  subordinated 


180  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

began  to  feel  their  power  shaken.  Public  feeling 
and  public  sentiment  were  going  against  them. 
Every  man  and  woman  who  had  listened  that  morn 
ing  to  the  calm  but  strong  utterances  of  Mr.  Wilder 
and  Mrs.  Green  had  a  new  impression  of  the  curse 
to  which  the  people  were  bound.  Mrs.  Green's 
"  grand  indictment "  of  the  enemy  under  the  tread 
of  whose  iron  heel  lay  hundreds  of  bleeding  hearts 
in  Delhi  had  roused  almost  to  indignation  every 
listener  to  whom  her  impressive  voice  came.  From 
this  indictment  one  took  this  count  and  another 
that,  and  before  night  rehearsed  them  in  the  ears 
of  thousands.  Delhi  was  no  longer  ignorant,  no 
longer  asleep.  A  trumpet  blast  had  sounded  in  the 
ears  of  her  citizens,  and  all  were  awake  now. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

T  UKE  STERLING  had  not  been  seriously  in- 
"^  jured.  In  falling  forward  upon  his  face  he 
struck  against  a  sharp  stone,  which  cut  a  severe  gash 
over  one  of  his  eyes.  He  had  not  been  able  to  get 
as  much  liquor  as  usual  in  his  wanderings  from  bar 
to  bar,  and  so  was  only  partially  stupefied  by  drink. 
The  blood  that  flowed  over  his  face  alarmed  him, 
and  on  rising  to  his  feet  he  made  his  way  home  as 
quickly  as  his  unsteady  feet  would  carry  him. 

The  shock  of  his  appearance,  with  his  face  a  mass 
of  gore,  pro.ved,  as  we  have  seen,  more  than  the 
overwrought  nerves  of  his  poor  wife  could  bear, 
and  nature  kindly  laid  upon  her  the  blessing  of 
unconsciousness. 

Mrs.  Payne  was  not  as  tender  of  the  wretched 
man  as  his  wife  would  have  been.  Her  pity  was 
for  the  unhappy  victim  of  his  besottedness,  and  she 
had  none  to  spare  for  him.  Her  first  concern  was 
for  Mrs.  Sterling,  whom  she  lifted  from  the  floor 
and  carried  into  the  adjoining  bedroom.  She  was 

181 


182  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

turning  to  get  water  to  dash  in  her  face,  when  a 
frightened  scream  from  Alice,  who  had  awakened 
from  sleep,  caused  her  to  run  back  into  the  room 
she  had  just  left.  The  child  had  started  up  and 
sat  looking,  with  a  terror-stricken  countenance,  at 
her  father. 

This  would  not  do :  for  the  child's  sake,  if  not 
for  his  own,  Mrs.  Payne  saw  that  care  for  him  was 
then  most  pressing ;  so,  bringing  water,  she  made 
him  bend  his  face  over  the  vessel  containing  it 
while  she  washed  away  the  blood. 

"It's  only  a  cut  on  your  forehead,"  she  said. 
"  There  !  hold  this  cloth  against  it  while  I  attend  to 
your  wife." 

And  she  left  Mr.  Sterling  to  go  to  his  wife  and 
endeavor  to  break  her  fainting  fit,  but  not  before 
quieting  Alice,  which  she  did  with  a  few  words, 
causing  her  to  lie  down^and  turn  her  face  to  the 
wall. 

Mrs.  Sterling  rallied  very  slowly  from  this  shock. 
It  was  past  midnight  before  she  opened  her  eyes 
and  looked  up  into  the  face  of  Mrs.  Payne  with 
signs  of  intelligence.  Her  good  neighbor  took  her 
hand,  and  pressing  it  tenderly,  bent  down  and 
whispered, 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  183 

"  Don't  stir ;  Alice  is  asleep,  and  so  is  her  father. 
It  was  only  a  little  cut  on  his  forehead.  I  washed 
off  the  blood  and  tied  it  up  for  him.  He  hadn't 
been  drinking  as  much  as  usual,  and  maybe  good 
will  grow  out  of  this.  The  darkest  hour  comes 
just  before  daylight,  you  know." 

Mrs.  Sterling  pressed  the  hand  of  her  neighbor, 
then  shut  her  eyes.  Mrs.  Payne  saw  her  lips 
moving,  and  knew  that  her  heart  was  going  up  to 
God  in  prayer. 

The  morning  which  broke  on  that  poor  little 
home  found  Alice  much  better  than  on  the  night 
before  and  Mr.  Sterling  penitent  and  in  great 
trouble  of  mind  about  his  son.  He  would  have 
gone  early  to  see  Hanlan  and  beg  for  George's  re 
lease  from  jail,  but  the  fall  and  blow  on  his  fore 
head  had  jarred  his^  brain;  and  when  he  started  to 
walk,  the  motion  made  him  dizzy. 

"  Don't  be  in  a  hurry/'  Mrs.  Payne  urged,  when 
Mrs.  Sterling  offered  to  go  herself  to  the  saloon 
keeper.  "  There'll  be  no  trouble  in  getting  the  boy 
out.  But  if  he  were  my  son,  I'd  let  him  take  a 
spell  there." 

"Oh,  but  the  disgrace,  Mrs.  Payne — the  dis 
grace!"  sobbed  Mrs.  Sterling. 


184  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"YouVe  got  all  that  as  it  is,  and  his  staying 
there  a  few  hours  longer,  or  a  few  days,  which 
might  be  better,  won't  increase  it  a  single  particle ; 
so  just  keep  quiet  for  a  while." 

As  for  the  boy,  who  had  been  induced  by  a 
fellow-apprentice  to  come  into  town  and  see  what 
was  to  be  seen  at  the  taverns,  he  was,  as  might 
be  supposed,  in  no  small  trouble  and  anxiety.  The 
apparition  of  his  mother,  with  her  pale,  anxious 
face,  the  rough  treatment  which  she  had  received 
at  the  hands  of  the  saloon-keeper,  his  own  quick 
anger,  which  caused  him  to  assault  Hanlan,  the 
severe  punishment  he  had  received  and  the  long 
hours  of  imprisonment  that  followed,  were  quite 
enough  to  set  him  far  down  in  the  valley  of  fear 
and  humiliation.  The  boy  loved  his  mother,  but, 
like  many  other  boys,  was  not  as  thoughtful  of  her 
as  he  might  have  been,  and  when  absent  and 
among  companions  of  his  own  age  easily  led  away. 
No  sleep  came  to  him  as  he  lay  in  his  narrow  cell. 
What  troubled  him  most  was  the  bitter  sorrow 
which  he  knew  was  lying  like  a  heavy  weight  upon 
his  mother's  heart.  Her  face,  as  he  caught  a 
glimpse  of  it  while  being  roughly  carried  off  by 
the  constable,  marked  by  the  pallor  of  death, 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  185 

haunted  him  all  night.  He  could  not  turn  away 
from  the  frightened  eyes  nor  shut  them  from  his 
view. 

He  was  walking  restlessly  about  his  cell  a  little 
after  nine  o'clock,  his  breakfast  of  bread  and  coffee 
untasted,  when  the  jailer  came  in,  saying,  a  little 
roughly,  but  in  an  undertone  of  kindness, 

"  You  can  leave  here  now ;  and  if  you'll  take  my 
advice,  you'll  keep  away  from  taverns.  They're 
bad  places,  and  the  boys  who  go  there  generally 
turn  up  here  before  they  get  through." 

Mrs.  Sterling,  who  had  waited  until  about  this 
time,  could  bear  the  suspense  no  longer,  and  was 
getting  ready  to  go  out  and  see  if  anything  could  be 
done  for  the  boy,  when  the  door  was  pushed  slowly 
open,  and  George  came  in.  He  did  not  speak,  but 
stood  and  looked  at  his  mother  with  such  sorrow 
and  suffering  in  his  eyes  as  turned  into  pity  all 
blame  that  might  have  been  in  her  heart.  She  held 
out  her  arms  eagerly,  while  a  flush  of  joy  warmed 
the  ashen  pallor  of  her  face.  Slowly  the  boy  came 
toward  her.  He  could  not  keep  back  the  tears  that 
were  beginning  to  blind  him. 

"  Oh,  mother !"  fell  from  his  lips  as  he  laid  his 
face  upon  her  bosom  and  cried  bitterly. 


186  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

Mr.  Sterling,  who  was  lying  on  a  bed  in  the  next 
room — he  was  not  able  to  walk  about  for  dizziness 
— on  hearing  the  voice  of  his  son,  called  out  eagerly, 

"  George  !  George  !     Is  that  you,  George  ?" 

"  Yes,  father,"  answered  the  boy. 

"  Come,  here ;  I  want  to  see  you." 

Mrs.  Sterling  let  the  boy  go  in  to  see  his  father 
alone.  It  was  in  her  heart  that  good  might  come 
to  both  if  left  to  themselves,  so  she  passed  him  in 
and  remained  upon  the  outside. 

"Sit  down,  George,  and  tell  me  all  about  this 
business,"  said  the  father.  There  was  nothing  harsh 
or  accusing  in  his  voice. 

George  sat  down  close  by  the  bedside,  and  as  he 
did  so  Mr.  Sterling  reached  out  and  took  one  of  the 
boy's  hands.  He  made  one  or  two  attempts  to 
speak,  but  was  not  able  to  control  his  voice.  In 
spite  of  all  he  could  do  to  keep  them  back,  tears 
were  rolling  down  George's  face.  At  last  the  father 
said, 

"  My  son,  I'm  not  going  to  scold  or  blame  you. 
That  won't  do  any  good.  But  I  want  you  to  tell 
me  all  about  how  you  came  to  be  at  Hanlan's  last 
night." 

George  told  his   story,  keeping   nothing   back. 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  187 

He  and  two  or  three  of  the  boys  at  Salter's  shop 
had  crept  into  a  passing  wagon  and  ridden  into 
town,  as  they  had  often  done  before,  to  go  about 
among  the  saloons,  seeing  the  people,  playing  at 
dominoes  and  getting  what  fun  they  could.  They 
had  each  taken  a  glass  of  beer  at  Jimmy  Hanlan's. 

When  he  had  finished,  Mr.  Sterling,  who  was 
still  holding  his  hand  tightly,  said, 

"  My  son,  if  we  could  all  die  here  to-day,  you 
and  your  mother  and  Alice  and  I,  it  would  be  better 
than  for  you  to  walk  forward  along  the  path  your 
feet  have  entered.  It  leads  only  to  shame  and  sor 
row,  to  wretchedness  and  ruin." 

Mr.  Sterling  lost  his  voice  for  a  moment  or  two, 
but  recovering  himself,  went  on : 

"You  have  always  been  a  good  boy,  George. 
You  love  your  mother,  and  I  am  glad  you  were 
brave  enough  to  defend  her  last  night  when  that 
brutal  wretch  put  his  hands  on  her  and  insulted 
her." 

The  boy  drew  himself  up,  and  a  flash  of  mingled 
indignation  and  pride  went  over  his  face. 

"  For  your  mother's  sake,  George !" 

Mr.  Sterling  said  this  with  a  strong  appeal  in  his 
voice.  The  boy  understood  him,  and  replied, 


188  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

"For  her  sake  I  would  do  anything,  father. 
But— but— " 

And  the  father  understood  his  boy  as  well. 
What  could  he  do  ?  What  help  rested  in  his  weak 
hands  ? 

"Come  closer,  my  son.  Let  me  say  it  now  just 
for  you ;"  and  Mr.  Sterling  drew  George  nearer  to 
him.  His  voice  was  low  and  earnest  as  he  went 
on: 

"You  are  old  enough  to  understand,  and  I'm 
going  to  talk  to  you.  There  is  one  thing  you  can 
do,  George;  Fve  been  thinking  it  all  over  this 
morning.  You  can  help  me  to  help  your  mother." 

"How,  father?"  asked  the  boy,  with  an  eager 
flush  in  his  face. 

"  I  could  help  her  and  you  and  all,"  said  the  poor 
man,  beginning  to  tremble  with  excitement.  "  It's 
in  me  yet ;"  and  he  threw  out  one  of  his  hands. 
"  But,  my  son" — his  voice  became  inexpressibly  sad 
— "  your  poor  father  isn't  strong  as  he  used  to  be — 
strong  in  his  mind,  I  mean.  His  heart  is  all  right. 
He  loves  you  all,  and  would  be  to  you  the  best 
father  in  all  the  world  if— if— " 

He  could  not  contain  himself,  but  cried  out  in 
a  kind  of  wild  despair,  causing  his  wife  to  come 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  189 

in  hurriedly.     There  was  a  look  of  alarm  on  her 
face. 

"  Polly !  Sit  down  here,  Polly,"  said  Sterling 
as  soon  as  she  appeared.  She  saw  that  he  was  all 
broken  down  in  his  feelings.  "  I  was  just  saying 
to  George  that  I  am  not  as  strong  as  I  used  to  be. 
You  know  how  it  is,  Polly.  I  try — God  knows  I 
try ! — but  it  doesn't  seem  to  be  of  any  use.  I've 
got  good  stuff  in  me  yet.  I  could  lift  you  all  up 
again,  and  make  you  as  happy  as  the  day  is  long, 
if  it  wasn't  for  the  cursed  liquor  shops.  I'd  give 
the  world  if  I  could  walk  past  them  and  not  feel 
a  drawing  to  go  in  of  which  no  man  who  has  not 
felt  it  can  have  the  least  conception.  If  we  were 
somewhere  else,  somewhere  out  of  Delhi,  anywhere 
but  in  a  town  the  streets  of  which  are  lined  with 
taverns,  I  might  be  able  to  reform  my  wretched 
life,  but  here  it  is  impossible.  No,  I  won't  say 
that,  either." 

And  he  turned  to  his  son  with  a  new  hope  shin 
ing  in  his  eyes. 

"  I  see  a  way." 

He  caught  up  George's  hand  again,  and  held  it 
tightly. 

"  Only  yesterday,"  he  went  on,  "  Mr.  Bradford, 


190  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

who  knows  what's  in  me,  said,  '  If  you'd  only  let 
rum  alone,  Luke  Sterling,  there  isn't  another  man 
in  this  town  I'd  rather  have  in  my  store.'  Just 
think  of  that !  If  I  could  stand  up  and  stay  up, 
wouldn't  the  days  be  bright  again  ?  And  George  is 
going  to  help  me  to  stand  up  and  to  stay  up.  He 
isn't  going  back  to  Salter's  again.  He's  going  to 
be  his  father's  good  angel.  Ain't  you,  my  boy  ?" 

Mrs.  Sterling  thought  him  wandering  in  his 
mind,  and  her  countenance  grew  anxious  and 
fearful. 

"  If  I  can  do  anything  to  help  you  and  mother," 
replied  George,  "just  say  what  it  is."  He  spoke  in 
no  uncertain  way. 

"  I  want  you,"  said  the  father,  dropping  his  voice 
and  looking  very  earnest,  "  to  go  out  with  me  to 
morrow — I  shall  not  be  well  enough  until  then — 
and  stay  with  me  all  the  while  I'm  out.  I  shall 
go  and  see  Mr.  Bradford,  who  said  he'd  like  to 
have  me  in  his  store;  and  if  you'll  promise  him, 
George,  that  you'll  go  every  morning  with  me, 
and  stay  all  the  while  I'm  there,  and  go  backward 
and  forward  with  me,  morning,  noon  and  night, 
I  know  he'll  give  me  a  chance.  And  I  shouldn't 
wonder  if  he'd  give  you  a  chance  too,  and  pay  you 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  191 

two  or  three  dollars  a  week  to  help  in  the  store. 
I  can  stand,  I'm  sure,  if  I've  got  you  with  me 
always.  I  shall  feel  stronger ;  and  if  I'm  tempted/ 
I'll  just  take  hold  of  your  arm,  and  that  will  keep 
me  firm." 

The  boy  stood  up,  rising  with  a  quiet  strength, 
and  bending  a  little  forward,  answered : 

"  If  that  is  all,  father,  I'm  ready." 

"  And  you'll  not  be  ashamed  to  be  seen  always 
going  about  with  me  ?" 

The  boy  turned  and  looked  at  his  mother.  If 
he  had  felt  a  moment's  weakness,  it  all  went  from 
his  heart  at  sight  of  the  almost  glad  surprise  that 
beamed  in  her  face. 

"  If  my  father  is  all  right,  what  have  I  to  be 
ashamed  of?  Oh  no ;  I  shall  only  be  too  glad  and 
proud." 

When,  on  the  day  following,  the  church  bells 
were  ringing  out  the  summons  that  set  all  Delhi 
in  commotion,  Mr.  Sterling  stood  talking  with  Mr. 
Bradford,  his  son  George  by  his  side.  He  was 
sober  and  in  his  right  mind,  and  Mr.  Bradford, 
touched  by  the  bearing  of  the  boy  and  assured  by 
the  earnest  promises  made  by  both,  determined  to 
give  the  poor  inebriate  another  chance  to  recover 


192  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

himself,  and  promised  to  make  an  opening  for  him 
on  the  next  day. 

As  the  boy  and  his  father  went  away,  walking 
side  by  side,  Mr.  Bradford  said  to  a  gentleman  who 
came  in  at  the  moment, 

"There's  a  case  that  makes  one  feel  as  if  he'd 
like  to  bury  every  rum  shop  in  the  land  as  deep  as 
Tophet." 

"  Ah !     Anything  particularly  bad  in  the  case  ?" 

"  Yes ;  the  man  you  saw  going  out  was  ten 
years  ago  better  off  than  I  am,  and  had  a  larger 
store  and  a  finer  run  of  custom.  He  owned 
and  lived  in  one  of  the  prettiest  houses  in  the 
place.  To-day — or;  rather  yesterday, — he  was  a 
miserable  drunkard.  The  handsome  residence  he 
built  and  beautified  is  owned  and  lived  in  now  by 
a  saloon-keeper  who  at  one  time  was  a  porter  in 
his  store,  while  his  own  wife  and  children  are  in 
the  most  desperate  poverty." 

"  He  didn't  look  as  if  he  were  as  low  down  as 
you  say." 

"  No ;  he  is  trying  once  more  to  reform.  How 
often  he  has  tried  it  would  be  hard  to  tell,  but 
every  effort  heretofore  has  been  unavailing.  There 
were  too  many  temptations  in  Delhi — too  many 


WOMAN  TO    THE  RESCUE.  193 

saloons  standing  with  wide-open  doors ;  and  he  was 
not  strong  enough  to  resist  their  allurements.  Now 
he  is  going  to  make  a  new  trial  and  in  a  new  way, 
and  you  might  guess  a  week  before  coming  upon 
what  it  really  is." 

"Then  I  won't  try,"  said  the  man,  "for  that 
would  be  wasting  more  time  than  I  have  to  spare 
just  now." 

"  Well,  you  see,  the  boy  you  noticed  with  that 
man  is  his  son,  and  he's  going  to  come  and  go 
with  him  every  day,  and  never  let  him  pass  a 
tavern  without  being  by  his  side.  He  is  to  be  the 
back-bone  of  good  resolution  to  his  father." 

The  man  shook  his  head. 

"  It  won't  work,"  he  replied. 

"  I'm  afraid  not.  But  for  all  that,  I'm  going  to 
give  the  thing  a  trial.  While  there  is  life  there  is 
hope.  And  besides,  this  effort  of  a  boy  to  save  his 
father  has  touched  my  feelings.  There  was  no  weak 
shamefacedness  on  his  part,  but  a  strength  and 
manliness  and  loving  regard  that  moved  me 
deeply.  He  shall  have  another  chance." 

"  I  don't  wonder,"  remarked  the  man,  "  that  in 
view  of  such  a  case  you  wished  all  the  liquor 
saloons  in  Delhi  buried  deep  in  Tophet." 

13 


194  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

"They're  an  awful  curse/7  said  Mr.  Bradford; 
"  and  think  of  the  class  of  men  in  our  community 
who  make  gain  by  a  traffic  that  hurts  everything  it 
touches,  that  eats  up  the  substance  of  the  people, 
that  sucks  out  the  juices  of  prosperity,  leaving 
everywhere  only  dryness  and  putrefaction !  In 
destroying  the  power  of  useful  service  in  the  man 
you  saw  just  now,  society  has  been  robbed  by  this 
traffic  of  a  good  citizen  worth  to  it  more  than  all 
the  thirty  men  who  are  permitted  to  carry  it  on. 
In  moral  tone  and  intellectual  culture,  in  good 
social  influence  and  in  efforts  to  increase  the  pros 
perity  and  promote  the  happiness  of  our  town,  he 
was  of  more  value  to  us  than  a  thousand  such  men 
as  these.  Nay ;  you  multiply  them  only  to  multiply 
ruin.  To  give  them  power  over  such  a  man  is  a 
crime  against  society." 

"What's  the  meaning  of  that  bell?"  inquired 
the  other  as  Mr.  Bradford  ceased  speaking.  "  It's 
been  ringing  now  for  over  five  minutes.  Some 
thing  unusual  at  this  hour." 

"  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  it  was  a  call  for  the 
crusaders,"  remarked  a  clerk  who  stood  near,  and 
a  half-amused  smile  came  into  his  face. 

"  The  crusaders  !"  exclaimed  the  man.     "  You're 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  195 

not  in  earnest.  The  cyclone,  as  some  have  called 
it,  hasn't  reached  here." 

"  That's  a  rallying  call,  I  imagine,"  replied  the 
young  man.  "  I  thought  from  what  I  heard  last 
night  that  something  was  in  the  wind." 

"Whose  church  is  it?"  asked  Mr.  Bradford  as 
he  listened  to  the  sound  of  the  bells. 

"  Mr.  Wilder's,"  replied  the  clerk. 

"  Ah  !  If  that's  so,  it  means  something ;  and  if 
Mr.  Wilder  is  going  to  take  a  leading  part  in  a 
crusade  upon  rum  in  Delhi,  it  means  a  great  deal." 

Mr.  Bradford  took  up  his  hat  as  he  added : 

"  I'm  going  to  see  for  myself." 


CHAPTER   XII. 

fTlHE  meetings  called  at  the  various  churches  on 
•  the  second  day  were  all  largely  attended,  and 
those  who  had  anything  to  say  against  the  common 
enemy  had  full  opportunity  to  be  heard.  The 
most  touching  and  forcible  appeals  and  denuncia 
tions  came  from  women  who,  stirred  and  excited 
by  a  new  hope  of  succor  and  defence,  stood  forth  in 
the  large  assemblages  and  told  their  tales  of  heart 
ache  and  sorrow  and  wrong  with  that  moving  pathos 
that  suffering  always  gives.  Pale,  wan  faces  and 
wet  eyes  added  power  to  spoken  words,  and  men 
and  women  who  had  been  indifferent  before  were 
now  thrilled  to  the  heart,  and  hundreds  who  had 
been  used  to  speaking  lightly  of  intemperance  made 
solemn  vows  to  enroll  themselves  among  its  bitter 
est  enemies. 

The  recommendations  of  the  initial  meeting  were 
adopted.  A  committee  of  three  of  the  best  and 
wisest  women  was  appointed  by  each  of  the 
churches,  and  these  women  met  at  Mr.  Wilder's 

196 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  197 

church  in  the  evening  to  confer  together  and  ar 
range  the  preliminaries  of  a  campaign.  Mrs.  Judge 
Hanson,  a  clear-seeing,  resolute  woman,  up  to 
whom  almost  every  one  looked  for  leadership,  had 
fully  digested  a  plan  of  action,  which  was  adopted 
almost  without  debate.  It  was  this :  The  exact 
number  and  location  of  the  saloons,  with  the  names 
of  their  proprietors,  were  first  to  be  ascertained. 
Then  the  work  of  closing  two  or  three  or  four  of 
these  was  to  be  assigned  to  each  of  the  churches, 
and  the  movement  against  them  was  to  be  as  nearly 
simultaneous  as  possible.  In  order  that  there 
might  be  no  delay,  a  committee  of  three  ladies,  Mrs. 
Judge  Hanson  being  one  of  the  number,  was  in 
structed  to  ascertain  at  an  early  hour  on  the  follow 
ing  morning  the  location  of  each  saloon,  and  to 
give  notice  at  a  ten  o'clock  meeting  of  all  the 
churches  the  special  duty  which  had  been  assigned 
to  each. 

All  this  could  not  be  going  on  without  the  know 
ledge  thereof  finding  its  way  into  every  nook  and 
corner  of  Delhi.  The  Eagle  had  its  reporters  at 
the  various  women's  meetings,  and  gave  full  details 
of  what  was  said  and  done  in  its  regular  morning 
issues.  Its  tone  was  considerably  changed,  and 


198  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

some  of  the  more  "  respectable  "  saloon-keepers,  who 
had  depended  on  the  conservative  editor  and  fully 
counted  on  his  standing  up  for  law  and  order  and 
the  sacredness  of  vested  rights,  saw  with  chagrin, 
if  not  dismay,  the  palladium  of  their  safety  giving 
way.  The  Eagle  admitted  that  there  were  too  many 
saloons  in  Delhi,  and  that  their  suppression  would 
be  a  public  benefit.  The  editor  could  not  fully  ap 
prove  the  means  that  were  about  being  used  against 
them.  Still,  it  was  not  to  be  denied  that  women 
had  suffered  terribly  from  their  presence,  and  that 
no  one  could  blame  them  for  trying  to  root  them 
out,  whether  by  fair  means  or  foul. 

While  the  women  held  counsel  in  the  churches, 
excitement  ran  high  in  all  the  saloons,  and  passion 
and  denunciation  were  strong.  Men  of  low  and 
brutal  instincts  poured  out  their  torrents  of  blas 
phemy,  and  some,  lower  and  viler  than  the  rest, 
made  threats  of  outrages  and  indecencies  that,  if 
attempted,  would  have  brought  down  upon  them 
a  swift  vengeance  from  an  indignant  and  excited 
people.  Some  with  cooler  heads  looked,  as  such 
men  always  look  when  danger  approaches,  right 
into  the  face  of  the  enemy,  measured  his  strength 
and  counted  the  cost  of  a  battle.  Before  the  cru- 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  199 

sade  began  two  or  three  of  these  had  sold  out  their 
stock  of  liquors  at  a  heavy  sacrifice  and  closed  their 
doors.  But  the  larger  number  waited  for  the  onset, 
and  many  of  these,  too  dull  to  perceive  the  under 
current  of  force  that  was  impelling  the  movement, 
or  confident  in  their  strength  to  resist  it,  swore  to 
maintain  their  ground  if,  to  use  their  own  words, 
"  all  hell  were  to  set  itself  against  them."  Among 
these  was  Jimmy  Hanlan. 

While  the  storm-clouds  gathered,  most  of  the 
saloons  were  filled  with  curious  and  excited  people, 
who  went  to  see  and  hear  and  discuss  the  impend 
ing  movement.  A  larger  amount  of  liquor  than 
usual  was  sold,  and  the  saloon-keepers  reaped  a 
rich  harvest.  But  on  the  morning  of  the  day  when 
it  was  well  known  that  all  was  ready,  and  that  a 
descent  of  praying  women  was  to  be  made  on  the 
saloons,  most  of  the  bar-rooms,  particularly  the 
"respectable"  ones,  had  few  customers.  Men  of 
respectability  and  social  standing — fathers,  hus 
bands,  brothers  and  lovers — were  not  particularly 
desirous  of  being  found  inside  of  a  tavern  when 
the  women  made  their  appearance. 

Jimmy  Hanlan  was  feeling  a  little  nervous. 
There  had  been  a  crowd  in  the  bar-room  from  an 


200  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

early  hour,  coming  and  going,  but  as  nine  o'clock 
approached  it  began  to  thin  off;  and  when  the  bells 
of  every  church  in  town  rang  out,  man  after  man 
dropped  away,  each,  as  he  left,  throwing  back  upon 
Jimmjr  a  jest  or  a  warning,  until  the  saloon-keeper 
found  himself  nearly  alone.  Glancing  from  the 
windows,  he  could  see  little  knots  of  curious  and 
expectant  men  and  boys  standing  at  the  corners  of 
the  streets,  most  of  them  looking  toward  his  house 
as  they  talked  earnestly  together.  He  did  not  have 
to  wait  very  long  after  the  bells  of  the  various 
churches  rang  out  in  concert  their  clanging  peals, 
making  for  his  ears  a  frightful  discord.  Only  a 
few  minutes  passed  before  the  doors  opened,  and 
ten  women,  with  Mrs.  Rhoda  Green  at  their  head, 
entered  his  saloon,  followed  by  a  crowd  of  men 
and  boys,  who  pressed  in  after  them. 

Coming  forward  without  any  excitement  in  her 
manner,  Mrs.  Green  stood  before  Hanlan.  Her 
face,  so  pure  and  saintly,  had  in  it  an  elevation 
and  dignity  that  at  once  subdued  the  man  and 
took  from  him  the  power  to  be  either  rude  or 
insolent. 

"  Mr.  Hanlan/7  she  said,  in  a  calm,  respectful, 
but  very  serious  tone  of  voice,  "we,  all  of  us 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  201 

women  who  have  suffered,  in  consequence  of  the 
liquor  traffic  in  Delhi,  beyond  anything  that  words 
have  power  to  express,  have  come  to  make  an 
appeal  to  you." 

She  paused,  looking  at  Hanlan  for  some  mo 
ments.  He  did  not  reply,  and  she  went  on  : 

"  We  have  come  to  ask  you,  in  the  name  of  hun 
dreds  of  sorrowing  and  heart-broken  women  whose 
husbands,  sons  or  fathers  have  been  ruined  by 
drink,  and  for  whose  reformation  there  is  no  hope 
while  you  and  the  men  engaged  in  your  business 
set  temptation  in  their  way — to  ask  you  to  abandon 
this  hurtful  traffic  and  give  us  back  our  beloved 
ones  again  healed  and  in  their  right  minds.  Oh, 
sir,  give  heed  to  us !  You  are  a  man  capable  of 
better  and  nobler  work  than  this.  Be  a  true  man — 
a  useful  man.  Let  your  work  be  a  blessing,  and 
not  a  curse,  to  your  fellow-citizens." 

The  hard,  heavy  face  of  Jimmy  Hanlan  was  visi 
bly  disturbed.  But  he  had  no  thought  of  capitula 
tion.  The  assault  had  come  a  little  differently  from 
what  he  had  expected.  In  his  fancy  he  had  seen 
the  women  rushing  in  pell-mell,  dropping  down 
upon  their  knees  in  true  dramatic  style  and  making 
an  effort  to  pray  him  out.  But  a  quiet  appeal  like 


202  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

this  had  not  been  counted  upon.  Still,  he  had  no 
thought  of  acceding  to  Mrs.  Green's  request,  and 
when  she  was  done  answered  in  a  respectful  manner 
that  there  might  be  two  opinions  about  the  hurtful- 
ness  of  his  business,  and  that  shutting  up  saloons 
wasn't  going  to  keep  men  from  drinking.  If  they 
wanted  liquor,  they  would  get  it  somewhere. 

To  this  Mrs.  Green  briefly  replied,  and  then  asked 
Hanlan  if  he  would  permit  them  to  sing  and  pray 
in  his  bar-room. 

"Oh  yes!"  he  returned,  regaining  his  freedom 
of  manner.  "  Sing  and  pray  if  it  will  do  you  any 
good."  The  coarseness  of  his  nature  cropped  out 
a  little. 

All  was  still  for  a  few  moments.  Mrs.  Green 
stepped  back  from  the  counter  where  she  had  been 
talking  with  Hanlan  and  joined  her  sisters.  Then 
rose  her  clear,  sweet  voice,  taking  up  the  words  of 

the  hymn, 

"Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee!" 

one  voice  after  another  coming  in,  until  the  whole 
company  of  women  filled  the  saloon  with  a  song 
of  the  sanctuary.  At  its  close  they  knelt.  Men 
bowed  their  heads  or  turned  their  faces  away.  A 
feeling  of  awe  and  reverence  crept  into  every  heart. 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  203 

There  was  a  penetrative  sphere  which  none  could 
resist. 

"  Dear  Lord  and  Saviour,"  prayed  Mrs.  Green, 
kneeling,  with  upturned  face,  and  speaking  in  a 
hushed  but  very  clear  voice,  "  we  come  to  present 
before  thee  a  petition  for  help.  Our  hearts  are 
heavy  with  sorrow.  There  is  a  sin  among  us  that 
is  hurting  the  people  more  than  the  wedge  of  gold 
and  the  Babylonish  garment  in  the  tent  of  Achan 
hurt  the  children  of  Israel,  and  we  implore  thee 
to  remove  it  from  the  people.  Let  thy  Spirit  touch 
the  hearts  of  the  men  who  are  dealing  out  to  our 
sons  and  our  husbands  that  which  biteth  like  a  ser 
pent  and  stingeth  like  an  adder.  Show  them  the 
evil  of  what  they  are  doing.  Touch  their  hearts 
with  pity.  Comfort  and  help  and  succor  all  upon 
whom  the  curse  of  this  awful  traffic  rests  to-day, 
and,  O  Lord  !  come  speedily  to  their  rescue.  Give 
us,  thy  servants,  strength  and  courage  and  patience 
to  persevere  in  this  work  to  which  at  thy  bidding, 
as  we  truly  believe,  we  have  now  set  our  hands. 
Let  us  not  grow  weary  because  of  discouragement, 
nor  afraid  because  of  opposition.  In  thy  strength 
we  will  hold  on  to  the  end.  Especially  do  we  pray 
for  the  owner  of  this  saloon.  O  Lord !  open  his 


204  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

eyes  to  see  the  awful  magnitude  of  the  evil  he  is 
doing,  and  touch  his  heart  with  pity  and  repentance. 
His  soul,  priceless  in  value,  his  soul  for  which  thou 
didst  die  upon  the  cross,  is  in  danger  of  perishing. 
Thou  canst  not  save  him  while  he  is  engaged  in  the 
work  of  destroying  thy  image  in  the  souls  of  men. 
Oh,  pity  him  and  turn  him  into  a  better  way.  And 
pity  us  all/7 

Jimmy  Hanlan  bent  his  head  forward  as  the 
prayer  began ;  it  bent  lower  as  the  prayer  progressed. 
He  felt  a  strange  pressure  upon  his  feelings — a 
sense  of  constriction  and  suffocation.  When  it  was 
over,  the  women  rose  from  their  knees  and  sang 
with  thrilling  effect, 

"  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name!" 

Then,  advancing  to  the  saloon-keeper,  Mrs.  Green 
said, 

"  Again  we  beg  of  you,  Mr.  Hanlan,  to  give  up 
this  business.  You  cannot  hurt  others  as  you  are 
now  doing  without  hurting  yourself." 

But  Hanlan,  who  was  deeply  disturbed,  only 
waved  his  hand  impatiently. 

"  May  God  give  you  a  better  mind,  my  friend," 
Mrs.  Green  returned,  in  her  gentle  but  impressive 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  205 

way,  "and  I  believe  he  will.  Think  it  over  more 
seriously,  and  we  will  see  you  again  to-morrow." 

"Oh,  you  needn't  trouble  yourselves,"  replied 
Jimmy,  with  a  look  of  almost  blank  surprise.  "  It 
won't  be  of  the  slightest  use.  I  can  answer  you 
now  as  well  as  to-morrow.  What  you  ask  cannot 
and  will  not  be  done — no,  not  if  you  sing  and  pray 
from  now  till  the  crack  of  doom." 

"We  shall  see,"  replied  Mrs.  Green,  with  a 
thrill  in  her  soft,  steady  voice  that  jarred  on  the 
excited  nerves  of  the  saloon-keeper. 

"  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow," 

was  then  sung,  and  a  hundred  voices  inside  and  out 
of  the  saloon  joined  in  the  doxology. 

Then  this  little  band  of  heroic  women  addressed 
themselves  to  the  crowd  of  men  and  boys  who  had 
followed  them  into  the  saloon,  and  solicited  each 
one  to  sign  a  pledge  neither  to  drink  nor  traffic  in 
intoxicating  liquors.  To  their  joy,  many,  moved 
and  influenced  by  the  scene  they  had  just  witnessed, 
and  impressed  as  they  had  never  before  been  with 
the  evils  and  dangers  attendant  on  the  use  of  alco 
hol  in  any  of  its  seductive  forms,  signed  the  pledge. 
Twenty  names  was  the  reward  of  this  effort. 


206  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

From  the  "  Hanlan  House "  the  band  of  women 
crossed  to  a  saloon  that  stood  on  one  of  the  oppo 
site  corners,  the  crowd  by  this  time  largely  in 
creased. 

The  man  who  kept  this  saloon  was  named 
Jacobs.  He  had  also  among  his  customers  a 
goodly  number  of  Delhi's  merchants,  lawyers, 
clerks  and  men  of  property  and  standing,  and  he 
had  gathered  enough  from  what  some  of  them  had 
said  in  regard  to  the  praying  crusade,  as  it  was 
called,  to  be  well  assured  that  if  any  of  their  wives 
and  daughters,  some  of  whom  would  undoubtedly 
go  into  the  work  if  it  got  a  start,  received  insult  or 
rough  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  liquor  men, 
something  worse  than  singing  and  praying  would 
happen.  So  he,  like  Jimmy  Hanlan,  took  counsel 
of  prudence ;  and  when  Mrs.  Green  and  her  little 
band  of  praying  sisters  entered  his  bar-room,  he 
received  them  kindly  and  gave  them  permission  to 
sing  and  pray,  but  firmly  declined  to  accede  to 
their  request  to  close  his  saloon  and  abandon  the 
business. 

Faithfully  did  they  admonish,  earnestly  did 
they  plead  with  him,  and  fervently  did  they  pray 
that  God  would  move  him  to  repentance  and  a 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  207 

change  of  life,  so  that  he  might  be  a  blessing,  and 
not  a  hurt,  to  the  people.  Men  who  watched  his 
face  closely,  as  the  women  prayed  for  and  talked 
with  him,  saw  that  he  was  more  deeply  affected  than 
any  casual  observer  imagined ;  and  when  they  went 
out,  he  put  on  no  air  of  bravado  and  indulged  in 
no  angry  remarks.  His  face  wore  a  very  thoughtful 
expression,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  conveniently 
do  so  he  left  the  bar  and  retired  to  a  private  room 
where  he  could  be  alone.  Here  an  acquaintance 
sought  him  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  good  laugh 
over  the  occurrence  of  the  morning,  but  he  found 
him  in  no  mood  for  jesting  or  merriment. 

"  Good  Heavens !"  exclaimed  his  friend ;  "  don't 
put  on  such  a  long  face.  Hold  your  ground  like  a 
man.  What  are  singing  and  praying,  that  you 
need  care  for  them  ?  Mere  breath." 

"They  might  sing  and  pray  in  their  churches 
until  doomsday ,"  was  the  reply  to  this,  "and  it 
would  be  only  breath  so  far  as  Fm  concerned.  But 
this  praying  and  talking  to  God  in  the  strange, 
familiar  way  these  women  did  a  little  while  ago, 
speaking  to  him  with  the  assured  confidence  that 
one  speaks  to  a  powerful  friend,  and  asking  him 
to  come  to  their  relief  against  enemies  who  were 


208  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

destroying  their  husbands  and  sons  and  fathers,  and 
doing  this  right  in  your  bar-room,  makes  you  feel 
a  little  uncomfortable,  to  say  the  least  of  it.  I 
don't  think  I  could  stand  up  to  this  sort  of  thing 
long." 

"  Then  you  might'  as  well  knock  under  at  once," 
replied  his  friend,  "  for  this  sort  of  thing  will  go 
on,  if  the  women  here  pattern  by  what's  being  done 
in  other  places,  for  weeks,  if  not  longer." 

"  For  weeks !"  exclaimed  the  saloon-keeper,  with 
a  look  of  dismay. 

"  You  don't  imagine,"  returned  the  other,  "  that 
women  who  have  the  courage  to  set  out  on  so 
extraordinary  a  crusade  as  this  are  going  to  halt 
and  turn  back  after  a  single  day's  march,  or  give 
up  the  conflict  after  the  first  battle?  If  you  do, 
you  will  find  yourself  grievously  mistaken.  It's 
going  to  be  the  bitterest  fight  you  ever  had.  So 
gird  on  your  armor  and  stand  up  like  a  man,  or 
else  pull  down  your  colors  and  surrender  at  once." 

"  What  would  you  do  ?"  asked  Jacobs. 

"  Oh,  I'd  fight  to  the  bitter  end.  Never  backed 
down  in  my  life." 

"  And  never  were  beaten  ?" 

"Can't    exactly    say    that,    but    I've    whipped 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  209 

oftener  than  Fve  been  whipped ;  and  as  I'm  known 
to  be  a  good  fighter,  bullies  don't  meddle  with  me." 

"  But  heavens  and  earth,  Ned !  How  is  one 
going  to  fight  with  a  lot  of  women  ?  If  they  came 
with  brooms,  rolling-pins  and  frying-pans,  a  fellow 
might  have  some  chance  of  beating  them  off.  But 
one  is  helpless  under  the  assault  of  a  dozen  pretty 
girls  and  saintly  old  women  whose  only  weapons 
are  prayer  and  praise.  When  I  saw  them  kneeling 
down  on  the  bare  floor  in  my  bar-room,  and  heard 
them  ask  God,  in  such  a  pleading,  tender,  sorrowful 
way,  to  give  me  another  and  a  better  heart,  that  I 
might  turn  from  my  sin  and  no  longer  hurt  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  their  sons  and  fathers  and  hus 
bands,  I  had  the  strangest  feelings  I  ever  knew.  I 
cannot  describe  them." 

"  Hope  you're  not  going  to  get  religion  ?"  said  his 
companion,  with  an  amused  laugh. 

"  No  fear  of  that.  I'm  not  one  of  that  kind," 
replied  the  saloon-keeper,  trying  to  laugh  in  return. 
"  Couldn't  get  along  on  religion." 

"  Of  course  not.     Ties  a  fellow  up  too  close." 

"Seriously,  Ned,  there's  no  use  talking  about  it; 
I  can't  stand  up  to  this  fight.  If  I  could  hit  back, 
there'd  be  some  chance  for  me.  But  if  I've  got  to 

14 


210  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

face  these  women  and  their  singing  and  praying 
every  day  for  a  week  or  a  month,  I  might  as  well 
strike  at  once.  I'm  not  brave  enough  for  that." 

"  Hark  I"  said  the  other,  turning  his  head  to 
listen,  as  a  full  chorus  of  women's  voices  rose 
clearly  on  the  air,  singing, 

"  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name." 

The  two  men  started  up  and  went  to  a  window 
from  which  they  could  look  down  upon  the  street. 

"After  Abe  Singer.  But  he's  been  too  much 
for  them,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  men. 

Abe  Singer's  saloon  was  nearly  opposite.  Its 
owner,  on  seeing  the  women  approach,  had  shut 
and  locked  his  door.  The  expedient  was  in  his 
case  about  as  good  a  defence  as  that  adopted  by 
the  ostrich,  which,  it  is  said,  seeks  for  safety  by 
hiding  his  head  under  the  sand  when  too  hotly 
pursued  by  hunters. 

"  I  don't  know,"  Jacobs  replied ;  "  I'd  about  as 
lief  have  them  singing  and  praying  inside  as  on 
the  pavement.  We  may  shut  our  doors  and  stop 
our  ears  if  we  will,  but  that  won't  stop  other 
people's  ears  nor  hinder  the  influences  these  women 
are  setting  in  motion." 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  211 

"  See,"  remarked  the  other.  "  That's  Abe's  wife 
at  the  window  over  the  saloon,  and  that's  his 
daughter  standing  by  her  side.  A  right  pretty 
girl,  isn't  she  ?" 

Strong,  clear  and  jubilant  rose  the  singers'  voices, 
and  here  and  there,  from  one  side  and  another,  rising 
from  the  crowd  of  men  who  filled  the  street,  a  deep, 
half-repressed  manly  bass  would  come  in.  As  verse 
after  verse  was  sung  the  number  of  male  voices  in 
creased  ;  and  when  the  singers  came  to  the  last  stanza — 

"  Let  every  kindred,  every  tribe, 

On  this  terrestrial  ball, 
To  him  all  majesty  ascribe, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all" — 

there  swelled  up  the  grandest  chorus  that  had 
ever  been  heard  in  Delhi. 

When  the  hymn  was  ended,  the  women  knelt 
upon  the  pavement  in  front  of  Singer's  saloon, 
and  as  they  knelt  the  vast  concourse  grew  still, 
heads  were  reverently  uncovered  and  men  stood, 
bowed  and  serious. 

Jacobs  and  his  friend,  who  stood  looking  down 
upon  this  impressive  scene,  could  not  hear  the 
words  of  the  prayer  that  was  offered  up,  but  they 
felt  strangely  touched  and  moved. 


212  WOMAN  TO  THE  EESCUE. 

"Crying,  as  I  live!"  said  the  friend,  in  a  low 
voice. 

"Who?"  asked  Jacobs. 

"Singer's  wife/' 

Jacobs  turned  his  eyes  to  the  window  above  the 
spot  where  the  women  were  kneeling,  and  could 
see  tears  falling  over  the  cheeks  of  Mrs.  Singer. 
The  daughter's  face  was  hidden  by  her  handker 
chief,  but  it  was  plain  to  see  that  she  also  was 
deeply  affected. 

"Poor  Abe!  I  pity  him.  Locking  his  door 
won't  save  him.  While  guarding  his  front  an 
enemy  has  come  in  at  the  rear." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?"  asked  Jacobs. 

"You're  dull.  Don't  you  see  that  his  wife  and 
daughter  are  captured  already." 

"  Oh  yes,"  Jacobs  answered,  in  an  undertone  and 
in  a  half-absent  way. 

The  prayer  over,  the  women  stood  up  and  com 
menced  singing  the  long-metre  doxology : 

"  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow ; 
Praise  him,  all  creatures  here  below ; 
Praise  him,  above,  ye  heavenly  host ; 
Praise  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost." 

Instantly  the  crowd  joined  in,  and  these  solemn 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  213 

words  of  thanksgiving  to  the  tune  of  "  Old  Hun 
dred"  rose  in  a  very  tempest  of  melody  on  the  air. 
It  was  a  scene  so  strange  and  deeply  impressive 
and  so  full  of  solemnity  that  no  one  could  be  in 
the  midst  of  it  without  feeling  its  power.  Men' 
who  all  their  lives  had  made  light  of  spiritual 
influences  were  moved  now  to  tears,  and  scoffing 
was  far  from  their  lips. 

Jacobs  stood  motionless  as  a  statue  while  the 
great  assembly  in  the  street  sang  in  a  wild  burst  of 
enthusiasm.  As  their  voices  died  away  he  turned 
to  his  friend  and  said,  in  a  quick,  firm  voice, 

"  Go  and  tell  those  women  that  I'd  like  to  see 
them." 

"  What  ?"     The  man  looked  at  him  in  surprise. 

"  I  want  to  see  those  women  again ;  IVe  some 
thing  to  say  to  them." 

"What  is  it?" 

"  No  matter ;  you'll  hear  when  I  say  it.  Will 
you  go,  Ned?" 

"  Oh,  certainly,  certainly,  if  you  say  so." 

And  off  he  went.  Jacobs  came  down  into  the 
bar,  in  which  a  few  men  stood  looking  from  the 
windows  at  the  exciting  scene  outside.  He  took  a 
position  in  front  of  his  bar  and  stood  leaning  upon 


214  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

it,  waiting  for  Mrs.  Green  and  her  band  of  praying 
sisters.  His  face  had  lost  its  usual  ruddy  glow; 
his  eyes  were  serious,  his  mouth  set  and  resolved. 
He  waited  thus  for  only  a  short  space  of  time. 
From  the  window  he  saw  a  hurried  movement  in 
the  crowd,  setting  toward  his  saloon.  Then  he 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  band  of  women.  A  few 
moments  afterward  they  entered,  followed  by  a 
crowd  of  men,  who  pressed  in  and  filled  the  room. 

As  Mrs.  Green  came  forward  Jacobs  bowed 
respectfully. 

"  You  wish  to  see  us  ?"  she  said. 

"  Yes,"  he  replied.     "  I've  changed  my  mind." 

His  voice  shook  a  little,  and  it  was  evident  that 
his  feelings  were  greatly  disturbed.  He  saw  a  flash 
of  light  in  Mrs.  Green's  face. 

"  This  is  not  a  good  business.  No  one  knows  it 
better  than  I  do.  I  drifted  into  it  because  I 
thought  it  would  pay  me  better  than  anything  else. 
But  I  never  liked  it,  and  never  felt  satisfied  with 
myself,  and  now — "  He  paused  for  an  instant,  and 
then,  in  a  firm  voice,  added,  "  I'm  going  to  give  it 
up." 

Hurrahs  broke  from  the  crowd  of  men  who  had 
entered  the  room.  There  were  cheers  for  Jacobs 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESQUE.  215 

and  clapping  of  hands  and  cries  of  "  Bravo !"  and 
"  Good  for  the  praying  women  I"  From  the  saloon 
word  was  passed  to  the  street,  and  the  shouts  of  the 
multitude  outside  rose  wildly  upon  the  air. 

Stepping  forward,  Mrs.  Green  took  the  hand  of 
Jacobs  and  held  it  tightly  until  silence  again  fell 
upon  the  excited  company.  There  were  tears  in 
her  eyes  and  a  quiver  in  her  voice  as  she  said, 

"Thank  God!  thank  God!  May  his  blessing 
be  upon  you,  and  may  he  give  you  of  this  world's 
good  things  fourfold  of  what  you  lose  to-day,  and 
a  life  of  heavenly  joy  for  ever." 

Then  she  knelt  and  in  a  few  eloquent  words 
thanked  God  for  this  great  and  signal  victory. 
There  was  a  gladness  in  her  tones,  an  excess  of  joy 
thrilling  in  every  modulation,  that  went  from  heart 
to  heart  with  electric  quickness.  As  she  rose  from 
her  knees  some  excited  man  in  the  crowd,  not  wait 
ing  for  the  women  to  lead  off,  struck  up  the  dox- 
ology,  and 

"Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow," 

rang  forth  again.  Outside,  the  people  caught  the 
infection  and  sent  the  chorus  still  more  grandly  to 
the  skies. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

T  T  would  fill  twice  the  number  of  pages  allotted 
-*•  to  this  book  were  we  to  follow  the  different 
praying-bands  in  their  visits  to  the  saloons  that 
morning,  and  describe  the  novel  and  exciting  in 
cidents  that  occurred.  Crowds  attended  them,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  little  company  whose  movements 
we  have  recorded,  and  in  nearly  all  cases  the  sym 
pathy  of  the  people  was  with  the  women. 

When  reports  of  the  morning's  work  came  in 
and  the  whole  result  was  summed  up,  even  the  most 
sanguine  were  surprised.  Out  of  thirty  saloons  six 
had  closed,  and  over  three  hundred  names  had  been 
signed  to  the  pledge.  Prayer-meetings  were  held 
at  all  the  churches  in  the  evening,  the  attend 
ance  being  large  in  every  case.  The  committee 
of  women  having  the  matter  in  charge  made  new 
arrangements  for  the  crusade,  giving  it  a  more 
extensive  organization.  The  town  was  thoroughly 
districted  and  the  wo^k  carefully  divided,  so  that  it 
might  be  widespread  and  simultaneous.  A  hun- 

216 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  217 

dred  women,  in  bands  of  from  ten  to  fifteen,  were 
to  visit  the  saloons  daily,  going  many  times  each 
day,  persistently  praying  and  singing  and  urging 
the  proprietors  to  give  up  their  hurtful  business. 
To  ten  discreet  and  earnest  women  was  assigned 
the  work  of  visiting 'the  wives  of  men  engaged  in 
the  traffic  and  urging  them  to  use  their  influence 
to  induce  their  husbands  to  give  it  up.  The  business 
of  others — and  they  numbered  several  hundreds — 
was  to  call  upon  every  man  and  boy  in  Delhi  and 
solicit  signatures  to  the  pledge,  so  cutting  off  as  far 
as  possible  the  demand  for  liquor  and  making  the 
trade  in  it  unprofitable.  Each  morning  religious 
services  were  to  be  held  in  the  churches  and  the 
presence  and  influence  of  prayer  be  brought  every 
where  to  the  people. 

The  second  day's  achievements  were  more  re 
markable  than  the  first.  Ten  saloon-keepers  aban 
doned  their  business,  and  over  a  thousand  persons 
signed  a  pledge  of  total  abstinence.  The  Eagle  gave 
full  reports  of  the  work,  under  startling  captions  and 
with  any  numb.er  of  exclamation  points.  Among 
other  things  it  said,  in  giving  a  history  of  the 
second  day's  operations : 

"  It  is  impossible  for  the  saloon-keepers  to  hold 


218  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

their  own  against  an  assault  so  determined  and  so 
thoroughly  organized  as  this.  The  women  are  too 
much  for  them.  The  liquor  men  are  like  an  army 
in  a  beleaguered  city  with  its  supplies  cut  off  and 
the  enemy  in  untold  numbers  swarming  every  com 
manding  height  and  battering  at  the  gates.  Noth 
ing  is  left  but  to  capitulate  or  starve.  If  this  were 
a  new  thing,  an  untried  experiment,  they  might 
resolve  to  test  their  capacity  for  resistance  with  the 
strength  of  the  assault.  But  we  can  point  them  to 
more  than  a  dozen  towns  where  victory  sits  perched 
on  the  banners  of  the  assailants,  and  to  a  score 
besides  where  the  strongholds  are  falling  one  by 
one  and  resistance  growing  feebler  every  day. 

"  Our  women  are  complete  masters  of  the  situa 
tion.  They  have  said  to  their  husbands,  fathers, 
sons,  brothers  and  lovers,  '  Stand  off  and  give  us 
fair  play.  Don't,  after  your  failure  of  years  to  limit 
or  suppress  a  traffic  the  curse  of  which  has  driven 
us  to  desperation,  put  in  your  bungling  hands  now. 
Let  us  alone.  And  for  God's  sake,  for  humanity's 
sake,  don't  help  the  other  side.  All  we  ask  of  you 
is  to  see  to  it  that  women  who  use  only  prayers, 
sacred  songs,  tears,  entreaty  and  expostulation,  in 
the  hope  of  saving  their  beloved  ones  from  ruin, 


WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE.  219 

shall  not  be  met  with  insult  or  violence.  This  and 
nothing  more.'  And  the  husbands,  fathers,  sons 
and  lovers  have  answered,  '  Yea/  and  '  Amen !' 
So  the  women,  for  once  in  their  lives,  are  to  have 
their  will  in  Delhi.  The  ballot  is  now  virtually 
in  their  hands,  and  their  first  use  of  it  will  be  to 
close  the  saloons. 

"  We  had  a  long  interview  yesterday  with  some 
of  the  leading  spirits  in  this  movement,  and  were 
profoundly  impressed  thereby.  No  levity,  no  weak 
ness,  110  half  heartedness,  was  manifested.  The 
women  are  deeply  in  earnest,  and  the  men  have  re 
solved  to  stand  aside  and  give  them  a  fair  chance." 

On  the  next  morning,  in  giving  an  account  of 
the  third  day's  work,  the  Eagle  said : 

"  The  excitement  was  at  fever-heat  yesterday. 
Many  places  of  business  were  closed,  and  all  Delhi 
seemed  to  be  on  the  street.  At  nine  o'clock  the 
clang  of  bells  broke  on  the  expectant  people,  and 
crowds  pressed  to  the  churches,  where  religious  ser 
vices  were  held.  At  half-past  nine  the  praying- 
bands  moved  against  the  saloons.  Five  of  the 
fifteen  which  had  remained  open  on  the  day  before 
were  found  with  shutters  up  and  signs  down.  At 
the  doors  of  two  of  these  the  women  were  met  by 


220  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

the  proprietors,  who  expressed  penitence  for  the  evil 
they  had  done,  and  signed  a  pledge  never  again  to 
either  drink  or  sell  liquor.  Then,  in  the  presence 
of  these  women,  they  broke  in  the  heads  of  their 
beer  barrels  and  smashed  their  demijohns  and  bottles 
of  ardent  spirits,  letting  the  contents  flow  upon  the 
street.  And  all  the  while  this  was  being  done  the 
women,  joined  by  hundreds  in  the  crowd,  sang 

1  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name ' 

in  a  burst  of  exultation.  After  the  last  keg  and 
the  last  bottle  were  broken  the  women  knelt  in  the 
street,  and  after  thanking  God  for  giving  them  this 
victory,  prayed  for  the  men  who  had  abandoned  the 
work  of  ruin  and  death,  and  asked  that  they  might 
receive  double  for  all  they  had  lost  in  this  world, 
and,  what  was  more  and  better,  the  peace  of  God  in 
their  hearts. 

"  At  the  close  of  the  day  only  five  saloons  were 
open,  Hanlan's,  Ben  Decker's  and  three  of  the 
worst  holes  in  Delhi — dens  where  the  vilest  of  the 
vita  are  to  be  found,  kept  by  jail-birds  and  haunted 
by  thieves.  Except  the  '  Hanlan  House/  there  is 
not  a  decent  saloon  open  in  Delhi  this  morning. 
Jimmy  fights  hard,  but  there's  no  help  for  him. 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  221 

"We  heard  him  swear  yesterday  that  all  hell  couldn't 
drive  him  out ;  but  as  a  gentleman  who  heard  him 
remarked,  '  Heaven,  just  now,  seems  to  be  stronger 
than  hell  in  Delhi/  The  odds  are  against  Jimmy." 

The  Eagle's  report  of  the  fourth  day's  operations 
had  the  following : 

"Ben  Decker  shut  up  shop,  packed  his  goods, 
gave  us  his  blessing  and  departed — left  Delhi  for 
Delhi's  good.  He  was  a  bad  fellow,  and  did  more 
to  debase  and  ruin  a  certain  class  of  boys  and  young 
men  than  any  other  saloon-keeper  in  town.  If  our 
fair  crusaders  had  done  nothing  more  than  run  him 
off,  the  achievement  would  be  worth  all  the  effort 
they  have  yet  made.  Hanlan  still  holds  out,  though 
he  doesn't  get  in  three  dollars  a  day.  The  women 
take  turns  in  visiting  him,  squads  of  eight  or  ten 
relieving  each  other  at  short  intervals,  so  that,  from 
morning  until  night,  all  day  yesterday  Jimmy  had 
to  listen  to  singing,  praying  and  persuasive  talk. 
He's  a  plucky  fellow  according  to  some  and  mulish 
according  to  others.  If  he  doesn't  surrender  to-day, 
the  men  are  going  to  knock  up  a  shanty  and  set  it 
down  in  front  of  his  saloon  for  the  women  to  sing 
and  pray  in — build  them  a  tabernacle,  as  it  is  called. 
The  weather  is  too  raw  and  cold,  and  the  men  don't 


222  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

want  their  wives  and  daughters  exposed  any  longer 
in  the  open  air.  Jimmy  had  better  give  it  up.  As 
we  heard  a  gentleman  say  yesterday,  he's  bled  the 
people  long  enough,  and  they're  tired  of  leeching 
and  cupping,  and  mean  to  have  another  and  less 
exhaustive  treatment. 

"  Of  the  three  places  besides  Hanlan's  that  yet 
remain  open  two  are  expected  to  close  to-day.  The 
wife  and  daughter  of  one  of  the  saloon-keepers  have 
been  at  church  every  day,  and  are  in  much  distress 
of  mind.  They  have  become  awakened  to  a  sense 
of  the  dreadful  wrong  of  the  traffic,  and  will  not 
rest  until  the  husband  and  father  gives  it  up." 

The  day  that  followed  was  one  of  jubilation  in 
Delhi. 

On  the  night  previous  Hanlan  had  gone  home 
early,  leaving  his  two  barkeepers  in  charge  of  the 
saloon,  with  direction  to  close  at  ten  o'clock.  He 
was  feeling  anything  but  comfortable  in  his  mind. 
Though  made  angry  often  by  the  persistence  of  the 
singing-  and  praying-band,  and  fretted  by  their  con 
tinued  solicitations,  he  was  not  armor-proof  against 
the  subtle  and  penetrating  force  of  a  divine  Spirit 
and  power  into  the  sphere  of  which  he  was  continu 
ally  being  brought.  Now  and  then  a  word  spoken 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  223 

in  prayer  would  move  him  strongly.  Convictions 
of  wrong  would  seize  upon  him  and  startle  him 
with  their  stern  accusations,  and  in  spite  of  every 
effort  to  dislodge  these  convictions  he  could  not 
thrust  them  out  of  his  mind.  Broad  glimpses  of 
the  evil  he  was  doing  would  sometimes  flash  upon 
and  startle  him.  Two  or  three  times  he  had  seen 
the  pale  and  wasted  face  of  Mrs.  Sterling  kneeling 
on  the  floor  of  his  saloon,  with  her  tearful  eyes 
turned  upward  and  her  thin  lips  parted  in  prayer, 
and  the  fascination  of  her  rapt,  appealing  look 
had  held  him  until  the  image  was  burned  so  deeply 
into  his  memory  that  effacernent  was  impossible. 

He  was  not  feeling  at  all  comfortable  in  his  mind 
as  he  took  his  way  home  that  night.  Mrs.  Hanlan, 
who  had  been  visited  every  day  since  the  beginning 
of  the  crusade  by  ladies  of  the  first  standing  in 
town,  held  out  for  a  while.  She  was  rude  to  inso 
lence  at  first,  but  gradually  gave  way  under  the 
pressure  of  influences  too  strong  to  be  resisted. 
Now  she  was  against  her  husband,  and  urged  him 
to  give  up  the  business. 

Hanlan  had  been  home  for  only  a  little  while,  and 
was  sitting  alone,  moody,  worried  and  depressed  in 
spirits,  when  the  door-bell  rang,  and  soon  after 


224  WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE. 

three  women,  Mrs.  Sterling,  Mrs.  Green  and  Mrs. 
Wilder,  entered  the  room,  followed  by  his  wife,  who 
had  gone  to  the  door.  He  started  to  his  feet,  while 
a  shade  of  anger  crossed  his  face.  Before  he  had 
time  to  recover  himself,  Mrs.  Sterling  stepped  for 
ward,  and  standing  close  to  him,  said, 

"James  Hanlan,  you  have  had  your  day  and 
opportunity ;  give  my  husband  a  chance  now.  All 
this  was  ours  once,  and  would  have  been  ours  to-day 
but  for  the  stumbling-block  you  set  at  my  husband's 
feet.  Take  it  away,  I  beg  of  you  in  Heaven's  name  ! 
We  have  suffered  enough ;  I  have  suffered  enough. 
What  I  once  was,  you  and  your  wife  know.  Look 
at  me  now !  Can  you  do  so  and  keep  dry  eyes  ? 
You  would  be  less  than  human  if  that  were  possi 
ble.  And  all  the  sin  of  this,  James  Hanlan,  I  lay 
at  your  door.  Ah,  if  this  were  the  worst !  If  my 
suffering  and  sorrow  and  despair  were  all !  If  there 
had  been  no  wreck  but  mine !  My  poor,  poor 
husband!" 

The  feelings  of  Mrs.  Sterling  were  wrought  to 
too  high  a  pitch.  At  this  mention  of  her  husband 
she  broke  into  a  strong  cry,  ancl  covering  her  face, 
wept  and  sobbed  in  uncontrollable  passion. 

"Let  us  pray,"  said  Mrs.  Wilder.     All  knelt, 


WOMAN  TO  THE  RESCUE.  225 

Hanlan  with  the  rest.     It  seemed  to  him  as  if  a 
strong  hand  pressed  him  down. 

"  Great  and  good  and  all-powerful  Lord  and 
Saviour/7  Mrs.  Wilder  began,  "  touch  our  brother's 
heart  and  soften  it  by  the  influences  of  thy  grace. 
Move  him  to  repentance.  Give  him  pity  and  ten 
derness.  Let  not  the  agonizing  cry  of  our  poor 
sister,  thy  servant,  be  uttered  in  vain.  Show  this 
man,  O  Lord !  the  peril  in  which  his  own  soul 
stands.  Let  arrows  of  conviction  penetrate  his  soul. 
Show  him  the  awful  danger  of  the  wrath  to  come. 
Take  away  his  heart  of  stone  and  give  him  a  heart 
of  flesh." 

Here,  a  groan  which  Hanlan  could  not  repress 
broke  from  his  lips.  At  this,  Sister  Green  rose  to 
her  feet  and  commenced  singing,  "  Jesus,  lover  of  my 
soul,"  the  other  two  women  rising  and  joining  her. 

Before  the  hymn  was  half  through  Hanlan  was 
sobbing  like  a  child. 

"  REDEEMED,  REGENERATED  AND  DISEN 
THRALLED  !"  were  the  words  standing  out  in  large 
capitals  that  greeted  the  eyes  of  every  reader  who 
opened  the  Delhi  Eagle  on  the  next  morning.  The 
struggle  was  over  and  the  victory  won.  The  bells 
rang  out  their  wild  jubilation.  Men  clasped  hands 

15 


226  WOMAN  TO   THE  RESCUE. 

in  the  street  and  gave  each  other  joy.  Services  were 
held  in  all  the  churches,  and  songs  of  thanksgiving 
went  up  from  thousands  of  lips  and  hearts. 

"  And  what  of  all  this  ?"  we  hear  said.  "  Whei? 
the  enthusiasm  dies  away  and  society  goes  back 
into  its  old  indifference,  what  is  to  hinder  a  return 
to  the  old  order  of  things  ?" 

Nothing,  if  Delhi  goes  back  into  her  old  in 
difference.  But  we  believe  better  things  of  her. 
It  will  be  easier  to  keep  the  enemy  out  than  it  was 
to  drive  him  out.  So  much  has  been  found  that 
was  lost,  so  much  sorrow  has  given  place  to  joy, 
so  much  of  life's  sweetness  is  flowing  back  into 
hearts  that  were  full  of  bitterness  for  years,  that 
there  will  be  no  sleeping  at  the  outposts  of  Delhi. 
The  enemy  which  her  women  fought  with  such 
desperate  courage  stands,  they  know,  ready  for  am 
buscade,  surprise  or  open  assault  whenever  he  finds 
them  off  their  guard,  and  they  know,  too,  that  "  the 
price  of  liberty  is  eternal  vigilance,"  and  do  not 
mean  to  sleep. 


DESCRIPTIVE  CATALOGUE 

OF 

T.  S.  ARTHUR'S  POPULAR  WORKS. 


THE  numerous  friends  of  Mr.  Arthur  will  hail  with  pleasure  the 
publication  of  a  complete  list  of  his  works,  which  will  enable  them 
at  a  glance  to  see  the  prices  at  which  they  can  be  had  and  to  know 
in  what  manner  to  procure  them. 

All  the  works  here  described  are  unabridged,  and  each  volume  is 
complete  in  itself,  and  they  will  be  found  so  varied  in  interest  but  so 
uniform  in  excellence,  that  a  household  can  make  no  better  accession 
to  its  library  than  by  adding  the  whole  series. 

They  will  be  supplied  singly  or  in  sets,  at  the  prices  indicated, 
on  application  to  the  publisher  of  this  work. 


THREE  YEARS  IN  A  MAN-TRAP. 

(A  COMPANION  TO  "TEN  NIGHTS  IN  A  BAR-ROOM.'.') 

In  his  new  volume,  "  THREE  YEARS  IN  A  MAN-TRAP"  (a  com 
panion  and  complement  of  "TEN  NIGHTS  IN  A  BAR-ROOM"),  the 
author  again  grapples  with  the  monster  Intemperance,  but  in  a  new 
field,  and  with  enemies  more  thoroughly  disciplined  and  organized. 
From  a  quiet  country  village  with  its  ' '  SICKLE  AND  SHEAF  ' '  he 
turns  to  a  great  city  with  its  six  or  seven  thousand  saloons  and  dram 
shops,  and  uncovers  the  deadly  ulcer  that  is  eating  steadily  down 
toward  the  vitals  of  the  people. 

From  the  first  page  to  the  last,  the  reader  will  find  himself  in  the 
midst  of  stirring  scenes  and  incidents  of  the  most  exciting  character. 
In  truth  to  nature,  in  vividness  of  description,  in  dramatic  skill  and 
the  expression  of  intense  emotion,  and,  above  all,  in  the  living  earn 
estness  and  practical  power  of  the  book,  it  will  be  found  even  superior 
to  "Ten  Nights." 

Especially  is  this  book  distinguished  for  its  close  fidelity  to  truth, 
and  herein  lies  the  secret  of  its  power.  No  picture  is  overdrawn, 
no  scene  exaggerated.  Fearful,  pathetic,  tender  even  to  tears,  sor 
rowful  and  painful  as  many  of  the  representations  are,  they  do  not 
in  any  case  exceed  the  sad  and  solemn  truth. 

The  artisan,  the  clerk,  the  merchant,  the  professional  man,  will 
each  find  in  it  his  lesson,  his  warning  and  his  inspiration  to  duty. 

Read  it.  citizens,  tax-payers,  fathers,  mothers,  wives,  and  from 
its  stern  expositions,  its  appalling  statistics,  its  arguments  and  living 
witnesses  get  some  faint  impression  of  the  work  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men,  licensed  to  spread  disease,  death  and  unutterable  woe 
through  all  the  land,  are  doing — licensed  to  make  paupers  and  crim 
inals — licensed  to  make  widows  and  orphans — licensed  to  squander 
the  poor  man's  substance  and  make  homes  desolate. 

Tt  will  be  a  revelation  to  startle  and  appal,  but  cannot  fail  to  rouse 
you  to  the  work  of  resistance,  change  and  revolution. 


Since  the  publication  of  this  book,  a  short  time  ago,  the  eyes 
of  100,000  readers  have  met  its  pages,  and  tens  of  thousands  have 
seen  its  vivid  scenes  portrayed  in  the  dramatization  on  the  stage, 
whilst  the  testimony  of  hundreds  give  the  most  unqualified  proof 
of  the  immense  amount  of  good  that  it  has  accomplished. 

Profusely  Illustrated.    12mo.    Cloth $2. 

"...  Has  again  in  '  Three  Years'  rendered  service  beyond  price" 

HON.  JAMES  BLACK,  P.  E.  W.  G.  C.  of  I.  O.  of  G.  T. 

"  God  bless  the  hand  that  has  penned  it" — METHODIST  HOME  JOURNAL. 

"  God  grant  that  this  precious  book  may  find  its  way  to  every  family  in 
the  land,"  GEO.  H.  HICKS,  N.  G.  S.  of  I.  O.  of  G.  S.  D.  of  S. 

CAST  ADRIFT. 

The  unparalleled  sale  of  this  author's  previous  works  has  induced 
the  publication  of  "CAST  ADRIFT,"  which  will  be  found  of  more 
intense  interest  than  anything  that  has  heretofore  been  produced  by 
the  same  pen.  It  is  a  surprise  to  all  familiar  with  Mr.  Arthur's 
writings,  and  is  without  question  the  strongest  and  most  absorbing 
story  that  he  has  ever  written ;  nay,  more,  the  strongest  and  most 
absorbing  romance  of  real  life,  we  make  bold  to  say,  that  has  come 
from  the  press  in  the  last  ten  years. 

Dealing  with  intemperance  and  its  kindred  evils,  the  author 
graphically  and  dramatically  invests  episodes  of  low  and  degraded 
life  with  thrilling  interest,  and  thereby  attains  that  standard  of  pop 
ularity  which  has  made  the  works  of  Dickens  such  great  favorites 
and  such  active  agents  in  the  amelioration  of  the  destitute  and  de 
graded  English  people.  Although  using  intemperance  only  as  an 
incident  of  his  theme,  Mr.  Arthur  has  fearlessly  drawn  aside  the 
curtain  which  hides  the  victims  of  this  and  other  terrible  vices,  and 
tells  the  story  of  sorrow,  crime  and  debasement,  as  it  unfortunately 
exists  in  Christian  America,  with  all  the  force  and  power  granted 
him,  yet  with  such  care  and  guardedness  of  description  as  to  render 

*  3 


this  story  unobjectionable  to  the  most  scrupulous.  It  is  written  with 
a  purpose,  and  if  it  has  the  attention  which  no  good  man  or  woman 
can,  for  humanity's  sake,  afford  to  slight,  will,  in  the  terrible  reve 
lations  it  makes,  and  the  incentive  to  action  for  the  relief  of  others 
which  it  will  surely  prove,  become  of  untold  value  to  the  class  of 
people  it  is  desired  to  benefit;  and  indeed  to  you,  good  man  or 
woman,  by  the  very  impulse  of  relieving  the  wants  of  others  which 
it  will  excite,  it  will  be  a  priceless  boon  and  treasure.  The  book 
cannot  fail  to  make  a  profound  sensation. 

It  has  come  from  a  heart  deeply  stirred  by  contact  with  the  life 
he  has  portrayed.  "  It  has  hurt  my  sensibilities,"  Mr.  Arthur  says 
in  his  preface,  "it  sickened  my  heart  many  times,  as  I  stood  face 
to  face  with  the  sad  and  awful  degradation  that  exists  in  certain 
regions  of  our  larger  cities ;  and  now  that  my  work  is  done,  I  take 
a  deep  breath  of  relief.  The  result  is  in  your  hands,  good  citizen, 
Christian  reader,  earnest  philanthropist.  If  it  stirs  your  heart  in 
the  reading  as  it  stirred  mine  in  the  writing,  it  will  not  die  fruitless. ' ' 

In  answer  to  countless  applications  for  facts  regarding  the  life  of 
T.  S.  Arthur,  whose  position  as  a  philanthropist  has  been  made  by 
a  life-long  service  with  his  pen  in  the  good  cause  of  morality,  we 
have  had  written  especially  for  us  by  a  personal  friend  of  long  stand 
ing,  a  charming  Biography  of  him.  This  we  propose  to  present  to 
every  purchaser  of  "  CAST  ADRIFT;"  and  as  it  contains  a  finely-en 
graved  portrait  of  the  author,  and  is  elegantly  printed  and  tastefully 
bound,  it  will  doubtless  be  acceptable  to  thousands  of  his  admirers 
in  all  parts  of  the  land,  in  the  homes  where  his  has  become  a  house 
hold  name. 

(This  Biography,  without  the  "Cast  Adrift,"  will  be  furnished 
at  50  cents. ) 

Elegantly  Bound  in  Cloth  and  Illustrated,    Price,  $2, 

"I  have  just  finished  reading  T.  S.  Arthur's  last  work,  'Cast  Adrift/ 
and  I  am  constrained  to  say  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  intensely  inter 
esting  books  that  I  have  ever  read.  A  person  who  commences  to  read 

4 


will  find  h  "very  JiMcult  to  stop  until  he  reaches  the  last  line  of  the 
last  page.  JU  is  a  work  that  no  one  can  read  without  profit;  and  if  "it  is 
generally  read  by  our  good  people,  it  cannot  fail  to  produce  a  change 
in  public  sentiment  that  wilJ  call  for  the  removal  of  some  of  the  abuses 
it  exposes."  SAM'L  D.  HASTING,  P.  E.  W.  G.  T. 

"...  The  whole  work  abounds  in  sentiments  of  sublime  patriotism, 
philanthropy  and  universal  humanity ;  and  the  eloquence  and  power 
with  which  they  are  urged  and  enforced  can  hardly  fail  to  accomplish 
much  good. 

"The  interest  in  the  book  is  so  completely  interwoven  with  these 
eloquent  truths  that  it  is  next  to  impossible  for  any  person  possessed 
of  ordinary  feelings'  of  curiosity  (to  say  nothing  of  his  philanthropy 
and  higher  motions)  to  lay  aside  the  book,  after  having  once  commenced 
to  read  it,  until  the  last  chapter  and  line  shall  have  been  seen  and 
understood."  HON.  JOHN  CESSNA. 

"  Every  temperance  man,  and  all  wiiO  would  better  society  by  cor 
recting  its  social  evils,  should  read  this  book,  for  they  can  have  no 
better  clue  to  their  own  work.  Unlike  Dickens,  Mr.  Arthur  has  come 
to  write  without  an  elaborate  waste  of  wor-ds.  I  have  passed  this  book 
to  several  experienced  and  critical  readers,  and  each  pronounces  it 
good."  A.  C.  VAN  EPPS. 

"  It  is  a  surprise  to  all  familiar  witn  Mr.  Arthur's  writings,  and  is 
without  question  the  strongest  and  most  absorbing  romance  of  real  life  that 
has  issued  from  the  press  in  the  last  ten  years." — Lancaster  Evening  Express. 

"  As  a  sorely-needed  exposition  of  a  foul  blot  on  the  reputation  of 
society,  it  is  invaluable." — Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin. 

"  The  volume  cannot  fail  to  make  a  profound  sensation.  No  library 
is  complete  without  it." — American  Lutheran. 

"  In  '  Cast  Adrift,'  Mr.  Arthur  touches  a  sore  spot  of  our  civilization, 
and  it  will  not  have  been  written  in  vain  if  it  serves  to  excite  interest 
in  the  abatement  of  evils,  the  existence  of  which  we  are  forced  to  ac 
knowledge,  no  matter  how  we  may  strive  to  shut  our  eyes  to  them." — 
Evening  Telegraph. 

5 


ORANGE  BLOSSOMS,  FRESH  AND  FADED. 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  Mr.  T.  S.  Arthur  has 
maintained  a  prominent;  and  leading  position  among  the  authors 
and  writers  of  this  country.  His  books  have  had  a  wide  circulation 
both  in  America  and  Europe.  His  writings  possess  peculiarities 
that  endear  them  to  all  good  people.  His  stories  have  carried  peace 
and  brightness  to  thousands  of  homes.  They  are  full  of  lessons  of 
beautiful  truth,  and  are  designed  to  awaken  and  keep  alive  the 
tenderest  affections  of  our  nature,  to  strengthen  virtue,  to  increase 
domestic  joy,  and  to  sweeten  home-life  by  the  abiding  presence  of 
mutual  trust  and  love. 

In  this  new  volume  he  gives  us  a  series  of  life-pictures  drawn  with 
that  skill  and  power  which  is  peculiarly  his  own  ;  never  weak,  always 
deeply  in  earnest  and  frequently  intense  in  dramatic  effect,  he  has 
brought  to  the  subject  here  discussed  his  subtlest  discrimination  and 
highest  effort. 

It  is  not  a  book  of  precept  and  cold  advice,  but,  as  just  said,  of 
clearly  drawn  life-pictures.  Men  and  women  bound  by  the  con 
jugal  tie  are  brought  before  the  reader,  and  he  looks  down  into 
their  lives  and  sees  the  pulses  of  feeling — sees  in  some  cases  the 
"little  foxes"  at  work  "spoiling  the  tender  vines,"  and  in  other 
cases,  the  peace  and  rest  and  joy  of  married  beauty. 

It  is  a  book  for  all  people,  young  or  old,  rich  or  poor,  for  hus 
bands  as  well  as  wives,  for  the  happy  and  the  unhappy. 

No  American  author  treating  this  subject  could  write  so  good  and 
useful  a  work  as  Mr.  Arthur. 

At  this  time  many  of  our  most  talented  and  popular  writers  are 
putting  forth  false  and  pernicious  .views  of  marriage,  lowering  the 
tone  of  public  morals  and  doing  an  untold  social  injury ;  the  pub 
lishers  offer  this  as  an  antidote  to  such  pernicious  views.  "  Orange 
Blossoms"  is  a  Ijealthy  book,  and  its  wide  circulation  cannot  fail  to 
do  a  great  amount  of  good.  / 

Assured  of  the  intrinsic  merit  of  the  work,  the  publishers  beg 


leave  to  announce  that  they  have  spared  neither  pains  nor  expense 
in  its  mechanical  execution.  It  is  printed  with  new  and  large, 
clear-faced  type  on  fine  tinted  paper,  and  is  handsomely  bound  in 
the  best  manner,  with  black  and  gold  ornamentation  on  back  and 
sjdes,  and  appropriate  inlaid  stamp.  It  is  elegantly  illustrated  with 
superior  pictures  engraved  by  Lauderbach  after  designs  by  Schues- 
sele  and  Bensell,  and  contains  an  accurate  and  beautiful  likeness  of 
the  author  on  steel,  engraved  at  great  expense  by  the  celebrated 
artist,  J.  L.  Rice.  To  ensure  a  large  sale  of  this  elegant  volume, 
the  price  has  been  fixed  so  low  as  to  be  within  reach  of  all.  Price, 
$2.50. 

"  The  purest  and  best  book  of  its  kind  ever  issued  from  any  press." — 
Hazleton  Sentinel.. 

"  Its  crowding  incidents  hurry  on  the  reader  to  its  conclusion  with 
almost  breathless  interest.  ...  Its  numerous  actors,  as  the  author  de 
picts  them,  are  living,  breathing  men  and  women,  who  tell  the  story 
to  the  reader  in  the  passages  of  their  lives  which  have  been  selected 
with  so  skillful  a  hand.  ...  It  cannot  but  bring  a  crowning  success  to 
the  long  and  successful  career  of  the  distinguished  author." — Banner 
of  Light,  Boston. 

"He  seeks  in  a  variety  of  pleasing  ways  to  point  out  the  perils  and 
promote  the  felicities  of  married  life,  with  a  view  to  preserve  the  sanc 
tities  and  harmonies  of  home." — Boston  Daily  Transcript. 

"  The  book  ought  to  find  its  way  into  every  household  in  our  land. 
We  know  of  no  book  of  equal  merit.  ...  Is  evidently  the  result  of 
noble  Christian  purpose.  His  theme  is  of  the  utmost  importance  and 
interest." —  Watchman  and  Reflector. 

"  Is  calculated  to  do  more  toward  sweetening  the  cup  of  family  care 
and  trial  than  any  homilies  that  could  be  delivered." — Zion's  Herald. 

"  All  who  want  their  Orange  Blossoms  to  remain  fresh  and  fragrant 
up  to  old  age  ought  to  read  this  book.  All  who  want  to  learn  why 
and  how  they  often  fade  so  early,  will  find  the  mystery  solved.  Is  a 
healthy  book,  and  its  wide  circulation  cannot  fail  to  do  good  as  an  anti 
dote  to  the  pernicious  works  which  are  daily  weakening  the  social 
ties." — Milton  MUtonian. 

7 


THE    WONDERFUL    STORY    OF    GENTLE 
HAND,    AND    OTHER    STORIES. 

A  collection  of  Mr.  Arthur's  best  juvenile  stones,  selected  with 
great  care  by  himself  as  the  choicest  of  all  that  he  has  written  for 
the  young.  The  story  from  which  it  takes  its  title  is  especially  one 
of  rare  sweetness  and  beauty;  portraying  in  simple  language  the 
lovely  life  and  influences  of  a  kindly,  gentle  child,  it  brings  its  child 
ish  readers  to  a  sure  consciousness  of  the  power  of  gentleness,  and 
cannot  fail  to  awaken  in  its  youngest  reader  a  disposition  to  follow 
its  charming  lesson. 

The  other  stones,  of  which  there  are  many,  are  not  of  less  merit, 
being  Of  varied  interest  but  uniform  excellence. 

The  volume  has  been  highly  endorsed  by  all  its  readers  as  one 
eminently  fitted  for  children  of  both  sexes. 

Profusely  illustrated  with  engravings  by  the  best  artists,  beauti 
fully  printed  and  most  elegantly  bound,  with  inlaid  centre. 

Quarto.    Cloth.    $2. 

AFTER  THE  STORM. 

A  new  and  fascinating  volume,  in  which  the  story  is  of 
absorbing  interest,  and  the  moral  most  impressive  and  unex 
ceptionable.  The  noble  and  kind-hearted  Mr.  Delancy,  and 
the  beautiful  and  hallowed  influences  associated  with  Ivy  Cliff, 
effect  indelible  impressions  upon  the  mind.  The  prominent 
characters,  Hartley  Emerson  and  Irene,  enlist  the  liveliest  sym 
pathies  during  the  tempestuous  portions  of  their  lives,  and 
awaken  the  keenest  emotions  of  pleasure  after  the  passing  of 
the  storm,  and  the  sunshine  of  love  appears.  The  work  af 
fords  useful  lessons  to  young  married  persons,  or  those  about 
to  embark  upon  wedded  life — lessons  that  may  frequently  con 
tribute  to  their  happiness.  12mo.  Cloth.  $1  50. 

8 


LIGHT  ON  SHADOWED  PATHS. 

The  sweet  stories  of  "If  I  Could  Know,"  "Blue  Sky  Every 
where,"  "Light  in  the  Evening,"  "He  Came  in  Mercy," 
"Always  in  Sunshine,"  and  "Service,  not  Love,"  are  worthy 
the  perusal  of  all  classes  of  intelligent  readers.  The  histories 
of  Hermann  and  Florence,  of  Mrs.  Elford,  and  others  equally 
interesting,  contained  in  these  stories,  are  replete  with  instruc 
tion  and  practical  wisdom.  They  point  out  the  many  shadowed 
paths  that  other  feet  have  trod,  and  the  means  through  which 
light  was  shed  upon  those  paths;  and  a  beautiful  moral  is  pre 
sented  in  each  chapter  from  which  all  will  derive  profit.  The 
book  tells  us  "we  have  shadowed  paths  at  times,  but  should 
endeavor  to  keep  in  the  sunshine  as  much  as  possible;  lest, 
when  we  come  to  make  up  our  sheaves  in  the  harvest  time,  there 
will  be  found  only  husk  instead  of  grain."  12mo.  Cloth.  $1  50. 

OUT  IN  THE  WORLD. 

Jealous,  sensitive,  and  proud  young  men  like  Carl  Jansen, 
and  undisciplined,  wayward,  and  sometimes  petulent  young 
ladies  like  Madeline  Spencer,  are  everywhere  in  society.  They 
should  endeavor  to  avoid  the  severest  trials  of  life  by  taking  in 
the  experiences  of  the  prominent  characters  in  this  volume. 
There  are  so  many  persons  continually  representing  Mrs.  Wood 
bine  around  us,  whose  real  characters  and  influence  should  be 
clearly  understood,  and  so  few  like  the  kind-hearted  and  esti 
mable  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lawrence,  that  we  especially  urge  the 
reading  of  "  Out  in  the  World"  upon  young  single  and  mar 
ried  people  of  both  sexes,  as  well  as  others.  The  work  is 
admirably  conceived,  unusually  entertaining,  and,  at  its  close, 

truly  touching.     12mo.     Cloth.    $1  50. 

9 


OUR  NEIGHBORS  IN  THE  CORNER  HOUSE. 

A  very  mysterious  family  move  into  the  corner  house.  Many 
exciting  and  strange  incidents  bccur,  which  eventually  are  the 
occasion  of  frequent  remark,  inquiry,  and  conversation  in  the 
neighborhood.  Crime  is  suspicioned,  and  even  whispered  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Congreve's  name,  until  finally  revelations 
of  the  most  remarkable  kind  force  themselves  before  the  public. 
This  work  is  exceedingly  fascinating — frequently  stirring — and 
adds  its  evidence  to  the  fact  that  sin  will  find  people  out,  and 
that  justice  will  triumph  over  injury.  The  sentiments  and 
general  tone  are  in  keeping  with  the  others  of  this  admirable 
series,  while  the  plot  itself  is  vastly  superior  to  those  of  most 
similar  publications.  12mo.  Cloth.  $1  50. 


NOTHING  BUT  MONEY. 

The  difference  between  avaricious  and  ambitious  men  and 
those  who  prefer  social  happiness  and  domestic  peace  is  forci 
bly  shown  in  this  book.  Adam  Guy  attains  wealth  through 
avarice,  but  entails  misery  upon  his  family  with  whom  the  finer 
qualities,  tastes,  and  aspirations  are  stifled  or  extinguished. 
On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Hofland  and  his  amiable  wife  Lena,  in 
their  cultivated  taste  and  love  of  the  beautiful,  enthrone  friend 
ship,  charity,  love,  and  all  the  heart's  riches,  in  their  household. 
All  families  should  read  this  splendidly  devised  work.  Young 
men  and  women,  as  well  as  the  more  youthful,  in  whose  mind 
the  thought  of  gold  outlustres  every  other,  should  procure  it, 
and  treasure  up  the  history  it  furnishes — a  history  true  to  the 

life.     12mo.     Cloth.     $1  50. 

10 


WHAT  CAME  AFTERWARDS 

After  the  curtain  falls  on  the  scenes  graphically  described  in 
"Nothing  but  Money,"  we  are  presented  with  a  "sequel," 
equally  complete  in  itself,  which  tells  "What  Came  After 
wards."  It  takes  up  some  of  the  prominent  characters  in  the 
former  work  and  disposes  of  them  in  the  most  satisfactory 
manner.  Adam  Guy,  after  fearful  punishment,  is  brought  be 
fore  the  readers  in  a  more  favorable  light,  showing  that  the  fire 
is  never  too  hot  that  burns  out  the  dross,  and  leaves  only  the 
precious  gold.  Dr.  Hofland,  and  Mr.  Ewbank  and  Lucy  are 
intensely  interesting  personages,  and  make  one  love  this  volume 
as  not  the  least  of  the  series.  Young  people  cannot  fail  to  find 
delight  and  benefit  in  the  perusal  of  "  What  Came  Afterwards." 
12mo.  Cloth.  $1  50. 


ARTHUR'S  RAINBOW  SERIES. 

COMPRISING 

After  the  Storm, 

Light  on  Shadowed  Paths, 

Out  in  the  World, 

Our  Neighbors  in  the  Corner  House, 

Nothing  But  Money, 

What  Came  Afterwards. 

Six  volumes,  in  uniform  style,  bound  in  cloth,  and  put  up  in 
a  neat  caso.     Price  per  set,  $9. 

11 


TEMPERANCE  STOBIES, 


AND  OTHER  TALES 


TJCliese  Stories  are  closely  drawn  from  every-day  life,  are  most 
pleasantly  written,  and  have  contributed  largely  to  the  popularity 
of  the  author.  Their  title  will,  no  doubt,  commend  them  to  a  large 
portion  of  the  people.  Each  volume  complete  in  itself. 


LIGHTS  AND  SHADOWS  OF  REAL  LIFE. 

Among  the  stories  given  in  this  volume  are  "The  Distiller's 
Dream,"  "The  Fiery  Trial,"  "Wine  on  the  Wedding  Night," 
and  "The  Broken  Pledge" — all  of  which  carry  with  them  a  moral 
suasion  which  must  affect  for  good  all  who  read  them.  Few 
persons  have  not  heard  of  these  powerfully  written  Temperance 
Stories,  which  have  already  proven  a  blessing  to  thousands, 
and  have  accomplished  an  amount  of  reform  that  has  given 
the  author's  name  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  upright  and 
good  everywhere.  All  should  feel  interested  in  the  circulation 
of  this  excellent  and  entertaining  work  among  young  people, 
at  a  time  when  dissipation  seems  to  be  fearfully  on  the  increase 
among  the  different  grades  of  society.  There  are  few,  if  any, 
books  of  equal  literary  merit,  and  which  furnish  lessons  of  equal 
interest  and  importance.  All  parents  should  place  it  within 
reach  of  their  families,  and  urge  upon  them- its  careful  perusal. 

An  interesting  feature  in  this  work  is  a  Brief  Autobiography 
of  the  author,  written  at  the  solicitation  of  the  publishers. 

With  illustrations.     12mo.     Cloth.     $1  75.. 

12 


SKETCHES  OF  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER. 

"  The  Methodist  Minister,"  "  Deacon  Smith  and  his  Yiolin," 
"The  Village  Horse  Block,"  "The  Child  Stealer,"  "Washing 
Day,"  and  the  various  sketches  given  in  this  book  are  highly 
illustrative  of  real  life  and  character  It  is  invariably  conceded 
by  the  reader  of  these  sketches  that  there  is  a  bewitchingness 
about  them  which  so  thoroughly  captivates  that  few  who  com 
mence  one  will  willingly  part  with  it  till  it  is  concluded.  So 
much  of  one's  own  experiences  pervades  them  that  they  fre 
quently  fasten  themselves  upon  the  memory  and  repeat  their 
lessons.  Tv'ith  appropriate  illustrations.  12mo.  Cloth.  $175. 

LEAVES  FROM  THE  BOOK  OF  HUMAN  LIFE. 

Intended  to  leave  the  mind  active  with  good  purposes  and 
kindly  sympathies.  Among  them  are  "The  Wife,"  "The  Hed 
Ear,  or,  The  Husking  Frolic,"  "Country  Boarding,"  "Throw 
ing  Dust  in  People's  Eyes,"  "The  Elopement,"  "The  Street 
Smoker,"  "The  April  Fool,"  "  Cold  Water  Wedding,"  and 
"Two  Scenes  in  the  Life  of  a  City  Belle."  It  has  been  said 
of  these  that  any  one  of  them  is  worth  the  price  of  the  book. 
We  know  they  offer  much  instruction  in  a  condensed  form,  and 
should  be  read  and  pondered  by  all  young  men  and  women. 
With  numerous  illustrations.  12mo.  Cloth.  $1  75. 


ARTHUR'S  TEMPERANCE  STORIES,  and  other  Tales,  compris 
ing  "Lights  and  Shadows  of  Real  Life,"  "Sketches  of  Life 
and  Character,"  "Leaves  from  the  Book  of  Human  Life,"  in 
three  uniform  volumes,  handsomely  bound  in  cloth,  and  put  up 
in  a  neat  case.  Price  per  set,  $5  25. 
2  13 


ARTHUR'S  WAY  TO  PROSPER. 


TJie  lessons  inculcated  by  this  series  are  such  as  cannot  be  learned 
too  early,  or  dwelt  on  too  long  or  often  by  the  thousands  of  young 
people  throughout  the  land  engaged  in  the  active  and  all-absorbing 
duties  of  life.  Each  volume  complete  in  itself. 

THE  WAY  TO  PROSPER,  AND  OTHER  TALES. 

Showing  how  Yictor,  Hartley,  and  Thomas  Stevens,  through 
the  power  of  virtue,  harmony  and  fraternal  affection,  secured 
to  themselves  prosperity,  and  how  Peter,  William,  and  Frank 
Close  made  shipwreck  of  their  lives,  from  the  want  of  like 
qualities.  While  the  book  gives  motives  for  fraternal  union, 
it  pictures  the  sad  consequences  of  discord  in  families,  and 
shows  how  selfishness,  ill-nature,  and  disregard  of  a  brother's 
welfare,  are  evil  seeds  sown  in  early  life,  to  yield,  in  after  years, 
a  plentiful  harvest  of  disappointment,  shame,  and  misfortune. 
This  is  an  admirable  book  for  young  people,  and  illustrates  the 
trite  saying  that  "In  Union  there  is  Strength" — which  the 
world  appears  no  longer  to  regard  as  a  practical  principle. 
In  it  the  children  in  every  family  are  taught  to  stand  close  to 
gether,  mutually  sustaining  each  other,  and  that  they  need  then 
have  no  fear  of  those  who  are  against  them.  "Finger-Posts 
on  the  way  of  Life,"  in  the  after  part  of  the  volume,  has  been 
written  with  a  view  to  pointing  the  wary  traveller  in  the  right 
direction.  With  mezzotint  frontispiece.  Cloth.  $1  50. 

14 


THE  ANGEL  OF  THE  HOUSEHOLD,  AND  OTHER  TALES. 

V      . 

A  rough  man  was  the  carpenter  Jacob  Harding.  His  wife 
had  also  become  somewhat  accustomed  to  the  use  of  hard  words 
and  severe  measures  in  the  government  of  her  children.  A 
beautiful  babe  was  left  among  the  household  by  some  unseen 
person,  and  it  eventually  seemed  to  have  been  sent  upon  the 
mission  of  an  angel.  Little  Grace  softened  the  hearts  of  the 
carpenter  and  his  wife.  Two  strange  women  appeared,  and  with 
them  little  Grace  disappeared.  Many  revelations  eventually 
transpired  that  awaken  the  intensest  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
reader.  We  here  learn  how  kind  impulses,  and  the  correction 
of  bad  habits,  elevate  us  and  add  to  our  success  in  life.  "  The 
Angel  of  the  Household"  is  ever  accompanied  with  celestial 
influences.  Whoever  holds  a  babe  to  her  bosom,  and  holds  it 
there  lovingly,  comes  within  the  sphere  of  angelic  influences. 
With  mezzotint  frontispiece.  Cloth.  $1  50 

TRUE  RICHES;  OR,  WEALTH  WITHOUT  WINGS,  AND 
OTHER  TALES. 

There  are  many  young  men  who  start  out  in  life,  as  did 
Leonard  Jasper,  with  false  ideas  of  business,  and  the  most 
selfish  disregard  of  principle.  They  do  not  estimate  the  losses 
and  ruin  that  always  eventually  result  from  unfairness  and 
fraudulence.  Edward  Claire  and  his  Christian  wife  are  charac 
ters  particularly  worthy  of  their  study.  They  should  ponder 
carefully  the  lessons  afforded,  and  impress  upon  their  minds 
the  evil  consequences  that  resulted  from  Mr.  Jasper's  course  of 
conduct,  and  the  beneficial  effect  upon  Edward  Claire's  life  in 
having  pure  and  honorable  influences  surrounding  him  within 
the  family  circle.  With  steel  frontispiece.  Cloth.  $160. 

15 


HEART  HISTORIES  AND  LIFE  PICTURES. 

A  volume  tending  to  awaken  our  sympathies,  and  increase 
our  interest  in  humanity.  The  world  has  furnished  many  lovely 
victims  like  Edith  Walter,  to  the  thoughtlessness  of  young  men, 
who,  in  a  brief  time,  have  added  dark  pages  to  the  books  of  their 
memories,  that  could  not  be  erased.  This  was  so  with  Edwin 
Florence,  who  had  been  duly  warned  against  the  deception,  in 
matters  of  the  heart,  that  is  invariably  attended  with  the  most 
serious  consequences.  The  histories  and  pictures  given  are 
impressive,  at  times  sad  and  painful,  and  cannot  fail  to  prompt 
additional  watchfulness  -and  thoughtfulncss  on  the  part  of 
young  readers.  The  work  is  written  in  the  author's  most  elegant 
style,  and  is  intended  to  benefit  society.  Cloth.  $1  50. 

HOME  SCENES-.  ITS  LIGHTS  AND  SHADOWS  AS  PIC 
TURED  BY  LOVE  AND  SELFISHNESS. 

We  are  here  shown  how  some  people  are  so  tenacious  of 
their  own  rights  that  they  have  vague  notions  touching  the 
rights  of  others.  Mrs.  Barbara  Uhler  presents  a  notable  in 
stance.  Through  her  selfishness  her  husband  was  ruined,  and 
through  love  he  was  again  raised  up  to  wealth  and  honor. 
With  the  case  of  the  Uhlers,  there  are  others  in  this  book, 
equally  as  entertaining  and  affecting,  which  we  advise  young 
people,  single  and  married,  to  read.  This  excellent  work  will 
surely  aid  in  overcoming  what  is  evil  and  selfish,  in  keeping  the 
light  of  love  forever  burning  in  one's  dwelling,  and  in  instilling 
into  every  one  those  charitable  feelings  without  which  no  one 
can  experience  real  happiness.  Each  moral  within  its  lids  is  a 

jewel  worthy  a  place  in  memory's  casket.     Cloth.    $1  50. 

16 


SPARING  TO  SPEND;  OR,  THE  LOFTONS  AND  THE 

PlNKERTONS. 

The  folly  of  extravagance  is  fully  and  effectively  illustrated 
in  the  character  of  Mark  Pinkerton  in  a  remarkably  life-like 
manner,  while  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  living  within  one's 
means  is  shown  in  the  success  of  Archibald  Lofton — a  char 
acter  which  parents  would  do  well  to  have  their  children  study. 
The  pleasures  experienced  in  a  wise  disposition  of  means,  and 
the  mortification  suffered  by  a  useless  waste,  until  anxious 
creditors  everywhere  appear,  are  faithfully  sketched.  Ex 
travagant  expenditure  is  the  besetting  evil  of  social  life  in  this 
country,  and  this  splendid  work  has  for  its  aim  the  correction 
of  this  evil.  The  contrast  between  lack  of  prudence  and  a 
wise  restriction  of  means  is  as  bold  and  masterly  as  it  is  truth 
ful,  and  may  prove  a  blessing  to  very  many  salaried  clerks  and 
young  business  men.  Cloth.  $1  50. 


ARTHUR'S  WAY  TO  PROSPER. 


COMPRISING 


The  Way  to  Prosper, 

The  Angel  of  the  Household, 

True  Riches, 

Heart  Histories,  and  Life  Pictures, 

Home  Scenes, 

Sparing  to  Spend. 

Six  volumes,  in  uniform  style,  bound  in  cloth,  and  put  up 
in  a  neat  case.     Price  per  set,  $9. 

17 


THE  THEEE  EMS  IN  A  WOMAN'S  LITE. 


JL  series  in  which  the  important  subject  of  domestic  life  is  "kept 
in  view.  Young  ladies  and  men  can  here  acquire  ideas  and  truths 
that  may  be  of  inestimable  advantage  throughout  their  lives. 


THE  THREE  ERAS  IN  A  WOMAN'S  LIFE;  OR,  THE 
MAIDEN,  THE  WIFE,  AND  THE  MOTHER. 

There  can  be  no  more  charming  history  than  that  of  Anna 
Lee,  as  presented  in  this  volume.  Every  one  will  entertain  a 
feeling  of  more  than  ordinary  admiration  for  her.  Her  just 
appreciation  of  character,  and  her  good  sense  nerved  her  to 
reject  Herbert  Gardiner  and  his  boasted  wealth,  while  her  life 
as  Mrs.  Hartley  proved  a  happy  and  beautiful  one.  As  a 
maiden,  a  wife,  and  a  mother,  she  was  always  an  object  of  love. 
A  great  contrast  however  is  afforded  in  the  life  of  Mrs.  Riston, 
whose  extravagance,  thoughtlessness,  selfishness  and  pride 
made  the  home  of  her  husband  a  gloomy  one,  and  reduced  the 
unhappy  man  to  insolvency;  or,  in  that  of  Mrs.  Fielding, 
whose  neglect  of  her  family  interests,  or  indifference  toward 
her  children,  was  productive  of  the  most  baleful  consequences. 
All  who  read  this  work  will  see  the  fruits  of  upright  living,  the 
results  of  untiring  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  young,  and 
the  pleasant  harvests  sure  to  succeed  to  the  sowing  of  good 

seed.     With  frontispiece.    Cloth.    $1  50. 

18 


BEFORE  AND  AFTER  MARRIAGE;  OR,  SWEETHEARTS 
AND  WIVES,  AND  OTHER  TALES. 

Young  persons  about  to  be  married  seldom  trouble  their 
minds  with  thoughts  as  to  the  difference  between  a  sweet 
heart  and  a  wife.  In  this  they  greatly  err,  as  the  lesson  in  this 
book  will  show.  Lewis  Milnor  and  Grace  Harvey  after  mar 
riage,  through  misfortune,  lost  their  wealth,  when  their  real 
natures  soon  became  apparent.  The  days  of  trial  were  sore 
ones,  but  they  were  passed,  and  oh,  how  beautiful  the  effect! 
Their  lives  afford  a  sweet  lesson,  with  all  the  bitterness,  and 
like  them  all  should  employ  wealth  for  purposes  of  useful 
ness,  instead  of  the  mere  pampering  of  pride  and  indolence. 
Many  persons  might  be  spared  a  severe  experience  by  reading 
and  reflecting  upon  the  life  histories  herein  given.  With 
Frontispiece.  Cloth.  $1  50. 

THE  MARTYR  WIFE,  AND  OTHER  TALES. 

We  are  shown  in  this  work  what  a  sad  and  dreadful  thing  it 
is  to  follow  after  evil  pleasures.  The  fair-haired,  blue-eyed, 
beautiful  and  innocent  Florence  Allison  was  won  by  the  de 
signing  and  worthless  sensualist  George  Campbell.  How  could 
she  but  become  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  misplaced  confi 
dence.  While  we  are  more  than  ordinarily  affected  with  sorrow 
in* the  perusal  of  this  brief  history  of  domestic  infelicity,  we 
believe  many  parents  will  feel  grateful  to  the  author  for  thus 
placing  in  their  hands  an  affecting  lesson  for  their  wayward  or 
imprudent  children.  "  The  Heiress"  and  "  The  Ruined  Game 
ster,"  both  worthy  especial  attention,  are  included  in  this  book. 

Cloth.     $1  50. 

19 


MARY  ELLIS;  OR,  THE  RUNAWAY  MATCH,  AND  OTHER 
TALES. 

.The  anxiety  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ellis  in  regard  to  their  daughter 
is  common  to  most  parents  of  giddy  and  thoughtless  girls. 
But  their  watchfulness  was  not  sufficient  to  prevent  the  mar 
riage  of  Mary  with  the  selfish  and  unstable  Morrison.  This 
was  a  runaway  match  of  the  most  unfortunate  character,  and  it 
should  caution  every  young  person  against  a  disregard  of  the 
matured  judgment  and  experience  of  kind  and  indulgent 
parents.  The  storms  of  adversity  seldom  permit  the  sunshine 
of  peace  and  comfort  to  enter  the  homes  of  those  who  were 
disobedient  children.  We  are  also  shown  in  this  vcxlume  how 
our  wrong  actions  frequently  confront  us  in  those  of  our  children 
when  ingratitude  and  disobedience  place  to  our  lips  the  cup 
of  bitterness.  Cloth.  $1  50. 

THE  YOUNG  LADY  AT  HOME. 

Home  stories,  in  which  the  author  has  assumed  the  character 
of  an  American  woman,  and  caused  her  to  relate  her  own  ex 
perience,  involving  the  troubles,  wrong  doings,  errors  and  per 
plexities  incident  to  domestic  life.  "Jane,  the  Irish  cook," 
and  "Mary  McLean,  the  sewing  girl,"  among  others,  furnish 
most  interesting  matter,  in  which  the  necessity  for  kindness 
and  a  personal  interest  in  the  lives  of  the  poor  about  us  is 
shown.  It  is  in  the  power  of  woman  to  do  good — it  is  her 
mission — and  she  need  not  look  away  from  her  own  little  family 
circle  for  the  means  of  producing  moral  and  social  reforms. 
The  little  leaven  she  there  hides  will  in  due  time  leaven  her 
three  measures  of  meal.  All  mothers  and  housewives  should 
read  these  stories.  Cloth.  $1  50. 

20 


STEPS  TOWARDS  HEAVEN;  OR,  RELIGION  IN  COMMON 
LIFE. 

A  series  of  lay  sermons  for  converts  in  the  great  awakening, 
in  which  the  views  of  no  sect  or  denomination  are  contained. 
From  the  step  towards  Heaven,  found  in  the  first  chapter,  in 
the  reading  of  the  Word  by  Mr.  Lyon  to  his  wife,  to  the  sweet 
consolation  given  to  Mrs.  Warren  by  her  sister,  in  the  last 
chapter,  we  have  divine  and  holy  purposes  before  us — to  aid 
in  the  conquest  of  evil  affections,  and  to  furnish  incentives  to 
right  living.  Life -pictures,  narratives  and  conversations  are 
employed  to  beguile  us  to  piety,  charity  and  Christian  truth, 
and  to  wrke  in  ineffaceable  characters  upon  our  minds,  that 
we  must  be  governed  by  the  divine  precepts  of  the  Bible ;  that 
religion  is  for  the  daily  life,  and  cannot  be  put  aside  at  the 
tranquil  close  of  Sabbath  evenings.  Cloth.  $1  50. 


THREE  ERAS  IN  A  WOMAN'S  LIFE. 

COMPRISING 

The  Three  Eras  in  a  Woman's  Life, 

Before  and  after  Marriage, 

The  Young  Lady  at  Home, 

The  Martyr  Wife, 

Mary  Ellis ;  or,  the  Runaway  Match, 

Steps  Towards  Heaven. 

Six  volumes,  in  uniform  style,  bound  in  cloth,  and  put  up  in 

a  neat  case.     Price  per  set,  $9. 

21 


THE  GOOD  TIME  COMING. 


In  this  series  we  are  taught  contentment,  thoughtfulness,  integrity, 
forbearance,  and  a  proper  regard  for  those  around  us.  They  will 
prove  of  interest  to,  and  exert  a  favorable  influence  upon  members 
of  families.  Each  volume  complete  in  itself. 


THE  GOOD  TIME  COMING. 

Like  Edward  Markland,  we  are  all  looking-  and  toiling,  for 
the  good  time  coming-,  yet  ever  continue  to  look  and  toil.  He 
longed  for  a  country  home  where  nature  in  its  grandeur  and 
wildness  should  hold  him  continually  with  its  charms.  He 
reared  the  beautiful  "  Woodbine  Lodge,"  and  for  a  time  re 
garded  it  as  his  paradise.  But  the  tempter  came  in  the  person 
of  Lee  Lyon,  a  base  schemer,  who,  while  he  ingratiated  himself 
into  the  confidence  of  Mr.  Markland  for  the  purpose  of  despoil 
ing  him  of  his  wealth,  ingeniously  wrought  upon  the  affections 
of  -his  handsome  daughter  Fanny.  The  succeeding  trials  and 
exciting  events,  together  with  the  ruin  of  Mr.  Markland,  the 
loss  of  his  home,  the  after  arrest  of  the  villain,  the  recovery  of 
a  portion  of  his  means,  and  the  happy  marriage  of  Fanny,  are 
all  so  intensely  interesting  that  we  advise  every  reader  to  pro 
cure  this  work.  It  teaches  the  practice  of  contentment,  the 
elevation  of  our  spiritual  natures,  and  a  wise  reliance  upon 

Providence.     With  frontispiece.     Cloth.    $1  25. 

22 


THE  ALLEN  HOUSE;  OR,  TWENTY  YEARS  AGO,  AND 
Now. 

Most  readers  will  regard  this  as  one  of  the  crowning  works 
of  the  popular  author.  "The  Allen  House,"  with  its  myste 
ries  and  remarkable  incidents  figures  conspicuously  throughout. 
First,  its  possessor  is  the  pirate  captain  and  his  singularly 
pretty  and  youthful  wife ;  next,  the  son  of  Captain  Allen  is 
in  possession,  then  the  beautiful  Mrs.  Montgomery,  then  Ralph 
Dewey,  and  finally  Henry  Wallingford,  Esq.  These  characters 
are  all  interwoven  with  the  story  of  "The  Allen  House,"  and 
each  has  a  peculiarly  engaging  history — some  dark,  terrible, 
and  exciting.  The  book  is  full  of  suggestions  to  all — to  young 
men,  that  truth,  honor,  and  integrity  may  govern  them — to 
young  women,  that  they  may  not  be  dazzled  by  condition  or 
prospect.  The  reading  of  this  volume  may  influence  many 
young  in  the  right  direction.  Cloth.  $1  25. 

WHAT  CAN  WOMAN  Do? 

Mrs.  Weakly  and  Mrs.  Glendy  estranged  Mrs.  Eldridge  from 
her  family  by  artful  and  false  persuasions,  and  caused  misery 
and  almost  a  total  wreck  in  the  Eldridge  family.  Poor  Katy, 
a  sweet,  fairy  creature,  having  thoughts  and  feelings  in  advance 
of  her  years,  was  the  means,  in  a  critical  moment,  of  reclaiming 
her  father,  and  winning  him  to  the  high  road  to  prosperity,  as 
also  to  the  eventual  reconciliation.  As  to  the  kind  offices  and 
influences  of  Dr.  Penrose  and  his  amiable  wife,  and  the  good 
Mrs.  Lamb,  and  the  infamous  conduct  of  Judge  Gray  and  Mr. 
Craig,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the  splendid  and  very  affecting 
work.  No  young  woman  who  peruses  its  pages  will  ever  re 
gret  it.  With  mezzotint  frontispiece.  Cloth.  $1  25. 

23 


THE  WITHERED  HEART. 

From  the  stern  school  of  life  we  are  here  presented  with  the 
sad,  heart-breaking  realities  that  are  often  around  us.  Jane 
Enfield  was  a  true  and  lovely  girl,  capable  of  the  highest  hap 
piness.  Had  she  not  married,  her  life  might  have  passed 
along  prettily  and  tranquilly  like  a  pure  and  sparkling  stream 
through  grassy  meadows;  but  she  married  John  Hardy,  whose 
self-will  and  disregard  of  the  finer  qualities  of  her  nature,  swept 
over  the  chords  of  her  heart  as  a  heavy  and  unskilled  hand 
over  an  instrument,  producing  at  first  discord,  and  soon  snap 
ping  the  tiny  strings  in  twain.  Oh,  how  sad  was  her  life,  and 
how  our  emotions  are  aroused  at  perusing  her  history!  This 
work  has  gone  through  several  editions  in  England.  With 
mezzotint  frontispiece.  Cloth.  $1  25. 

THE  ANGEL  AND  THE  DEMON. 

A  thrilling  work,  in  which  Mrs.  Dainty  procures  an  angel, 
in  the  person  of  the  accomplished  Florence  Harper,  as  govern 
ess,  whose  influence  upon  the  children  is  productive  of  the 
best  results..  In  her  fondness  for  and  abuse  of  authority  she 
makes  the  position  of  Florence  a  very  trying  one,  until,  finally, 
she  hurriedly  discharges  her.  She  then  engages  a  demon,  in 
the  person  of  Mrs.  Jeckyl,  as  governess,  who  becomes  repulsive 
to  every  one,  and  employs  mesmeric  means  and  familiar  spirits 
among  the  children  until  she  is  sent  away.  Afterwards  one 
of  the  children  is  stolen,  when  Uncle  John,  the  angel  and  the 
demon,  all  figure  prominently.  The  contents  are  truly  start 
ling,  and  make  this  one  pre-eminent  among  the  author's  best 
works.  All  should  read  it.  Cloth.  $1  25. 

24 


THE  TRIALS  AND  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HOUSEKEEPER, 

Showing  the  grave,  instructive,  agreeable,  and  amusing 
trials,  perplexities  and  incidents  at  times  peculiar  to  house 
keeping.  Mrs.  Smith  traded  her  husband's  new  cloth  coat, 
which  she  mistook  for  an  old  one,  to  a  china-ware  vender 
for  a  pair  of  vases,  which  prevented  Mr.  Smith  from  going  to 
church  on  the  following  Sunday.  Mrs.  Smith  hired  a  cook 
who  had  a  literary  turn,  and  became  so  deeply  interested  in  the 
"Wandering  Jew"  that  she  did  not  see  the  cat  eat  up  the  pre 
pared  turkey,  or  know  that  the  pudding  was  burning  to  a 
crisp — all  of  which  compelled  Mr.  Smith  to  entertain  a  friend 
upon  broiled  steak  and  potatoes.  Mrs.  Smith  next  employed  a 
domestic  who  used  a  gallon  of  best  sperm  oil  every  few  days  in 
lighting  the  fire,  the  smell  of  which  drove  Mr.  Smith  from  his 
comfortable  bed  at  an  unusually  early  hour.  Thus  Mrs.  Smith 
continues,  and  affords  us  lively  pictures  from  real  life.  With 
illustrations.  Cloth.  $1  25. 


ARTHUR'S  GOOD  TIME  COMING. 

COMPRISING 

The  Good  Time  Coining, 

The  Allen  House, 

What  Can  Woman  DoP 

The  Withered  Heart, 

The  Angel  and  the  Demon, 

Trials  and  Confessions  of  a  Housekeeper. 

Six  volumes,  in  uniform  style,  bound  in  cloth,  and  put  up 
in  a  neat  case.     Price  per  set,  $7  50. 
-      •  25 


ARTHURS  ADVICE  TO  YOUNG  PEOPLE. 


The  purpose  of  guarding  the  young  against  false  views  and  habits, 
and  strengthening  them  against  the  many  temptations  in  life,  is 
everyivhere  apparent  in  this  excellent  series.  We  urge  its  several 
volumes  upon  the  attention  of  young  readers,  each  of  which  is  com 
plete  in  itself. 

ADVICE  TO  YOUNG   MEN  ON  THEIR  DUTIES  AND 
CONDUCT  IN  LIFE. 

It  treats  of  the  origin  of  man,  tells  of  the  age  of  responsi 
bility,  and  the  common  errors  into  which  young  men  fall,  such 
as  spending  money  uselessly,  going  in  debt  for  clothing,  hav- 
ing  an  ambition  abroad  for  being  "genteel,"  and  indulging  in 
vicious  habits.  It  further  gives  us  very  valuable  hints  as  to 
friends  and  associates,  the  improvement  of  the  mind,  self-educa 
tion,  music,  dancing,  truly  polished  manners,  amusements,  self- 
government,  indolence,  intimate  friendships,  home,  parents, 
sisters,  conduct  among  men,  courage,  religion,  bad  habits, 
health,  entering  business,  marriage,  etc.  Many  interesting 
facts  in  the  lives  of  prominent  men  are  cited,  and  interesting 
incidents  narrated.  It  is  thoughtful,  and,  if  it  is  carefully  read, 
in  a  thoughtful  spirit,  it  will  prove  the  most  useful  and  highly 
beneficial  book  of  the  kind  ever  published.  Every  young  man 
who  gets  it  will  assuredly  prize  it  for  its  valuable  information, 

its  clear  views  of  life,  and  its  elevating  thoughts.    Cloth.   $1  25. 

26  -       • 


ADVICE  TO  YOUNG  LADIES  ON  THEIR  DUTIES  AND 
CONDUCT  IN  LIFE. 

Intended  to  guard  against  fatal  errors,  to  correct  false  views 
of  life,  and  inculcate  useful  lessons.  Young  ladies  can  here 
learn  much  in  regard  to  entering  upon  life,  habits  of  order 
and  neatness,  domestic  and  culinary  affairs,  the  improvement 
of  the  mind,  the  external  condition,. gossiping  and  evil  speak 
ing,  dress,  health,  the  treatment  of  their  brothers,  their  con 
duct  towards  parents,  the  equality  of  the  sexes,  their  conduct 
toward  men,  the  character  of  the  men  who  are  received  as 
visitors,  receiving  attentions  from  men,  early  marriages,  mar 
riage,  the  year  after  marriage,  a  common  mistake,  etc.  The 
book  is  full  of  interest,  and  furnishes  many  instances  in  support 
of  its  views.  With  steel  frontispiece.  Cloth.  $1  25. 

TEN  NIGHTS  IN  A  BAR  ROOM,  AND  WHAT  I  SAW 
THERE. 

The  sad  and  terrible  history  of  the  "  Sickle  and  Sheaf," 
and  its  landlord,  Simon  Slade,  is  intensely  exciting.  Poor 
Joe  Morgan,  his  noble  wife  Fanny,  and  their  angelic  little 
Mary,  are  among  the  most  interesting  characters,  and  the 
scenes  between  the  daughter  and  father,  ere  her  little  spirit 
joins  the  angels  of  the  resurrection,  are  so  deeply  impressive 
that  few  men  or  women  can  read  them  without  frequently 
shedding  tears.  The  ruin  of  Judge  Hammond,  the  death  of 
his  son,  and  the  gambler  Green's  death,  are  full  of  the  dark 
and  terrible.  This  work  affords  some  of  the  most  sharply-drawn 
sketches  of  scenes  and  characters  to  be  found  in  any  book  in 
the  English  language.  With  Illustrations.  Cloth.  $1  25. 

27 


THE  OLD  MAN'S  BRIDE;  OR,  THE  LESSON  OF  THE 
DAY. 

There  are  those  who  make  marriage  a  matter  of  bargain 
and  sale.  The  history  of  Helen  Lee  sets  forth  in  a  strong 
light  the  error  of  such  a  course.  Helen  was  a  brave-hearted, 
accomplished,  and  beautiful  girl,  and  the  sole  dependence  of 
her  aged  parents,  who  had  once  been  in  good  circumstances. 
She  was  tempted  to  sacrifice  herself  upon  the  altar  of  wealth 
to  relieve  her  parents  from  their  embarrassing  circumstances. 
Goaded  on  by  need  of  assistance  from  others  she  yielded,  and 
married  old  Adam  Bullfinch.  Having  loved  Henry  Welford, 
she  married  where  she  loved  not,  and  had  the  honesty  of  heart 
to  warn  Mr.  Bullfinch  of  the  fact  before  marriage.  The  death 
of  her  husband,  and  her  subsequent  marriage  with  Henry  Wel 
ford,  conclude  this  touching  story.  Cloth.  $1  25. 

THE  HAND  WITHOUT  THE  HEART;  OR,  THE  LIFE 
TRIALS  OF  JESSIE  LORING. 

Jessie  Loring  in  a  moment  of  overpersuasion,  consented  to 
marry  Leon  Dexter.  She  repented  the  step,  but  being  a  noble- 
spirited  young  woman,  yielded  to  the  dictates  of  honor  and  be 
came  his  wife.  Her  trials  and  temptations  were  greater  than 
those  ordinarily  encountered,  but  she  swerved  not  from  duty 
arid  religious  principle.  She  loved  Paul  Hendrickson,  yet  re 
mained  faithful  to  her  husband,  whose  jealousy  caused  unhap- 
piness,  and  finally  a  separation.  A  divorce  followed,  then  the 
marriage  of  Mr.  Dexter  to  an  English  lady.  Afterwards  we 
are  acquainted  with  the  happy  union  of  Paul  Hendrickson  and 

Jessie  Loring.     Cloth.     $1  25. 

28 


GOLDEN  GRAINS  FROM  LIFE'S  HARVEST-FIELD. 

Lively  pictures  of  actual  life,  inculcating  true  principles, 
pure  affections,  and  human  sympathies.  One  of  these  presents 
the  history  of  Albert  Earnest,  who  was  ambitious  and  selfish. 
His  misfortunes  were  numerous  and  of  a  deplorable  character, 
such  as  the  loss  of  a  child,  followed  by  the  death  of  his  amiable 
wife,  whose  life  was  marred  by  no  little  neglect  and  sorrow. 
Another  beautifully  describes  "The  Mother's  Dream  of  Hea 
ven,"  while  still  another  tells  how  Henry  Miller  through  a  dis 
honest  act  lost  the  hand  of  the  loving  Emily  Weldon,  and  how, 
through  repentance  and  years  of  upright  industry,  he  gained 
both  wealth  and  the  object  of  his  love.  These  golden  grains 
are  shaken  from  the  full  ears,  and  will  afford  strength  to  the 
weak  and  tempted,  comfort  to  the  afflicted,  and  good  impulses 
to  all.  Cloth.  $1  25. 


ARTHUR'S  ADVICE  TO  YOUNG  PEOPLE. 

COMPRISING 

Advice  to  Young  Men, 

Advice  to  Young  Ladies, 

Ten  Nights  in  a  Bar  Room, 

The  Hand  without  the  Heart, 

The  Old  Man's  Bride, 

Golden  Grains  from  Life's  Harvest-Field. 

Six  volumes,  in  uniform  style,  bound  in  cloth,  and  put  up  in 

a  neat  case.     Price  per  set,  $7  50. 

29 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(415)642-6233 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days 

prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


MAR  1  7  1989 


MITQ  DISC  DEC  C  7  'Qfl 


